A Long Time Coming
by Laura Rola
Summary: Nine years have passed since X.A.N.A. was defeated, and yet, the past refuses to let them go. Each team gains a new ally as the two blindly fight each other for the same goal.
1. Chapter 1

Code Lyoko: A Long Time Coming

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko or any of its characters, locations, etc, only the original content included. This story includes the series and prequel episodes in its canon, ending at episode 95 of the series, so the novels and other official works are not considered.

Chapter 1:

His eyes opened, and before him, a frozen place awaited. The land looked cold, but the young man felt no chill as he took a quick look around him. The ground shone brightly, but a short look upward made it obvious that there was no visible sun in the sky. _Where am I_, the black clad man thought to himself, though such a question would be the obvious response of anyone who ended up lying on a giant ice sheet wearing a completely different outfit than they were wearing the last time they were conscious. All the man knew was that he had stepped into a large cylinder with wires coming from it while looking around an abandoned building on the way home. He had followed an animal, perhaps a cat or squirrel, into the building, and… slowly, it seemed that his memories were growing fuzzy. However, that meant nothing at the moment. Wherever he was, the young man had to return to where he had come from. Luckily, it seemed that this wasteland wasn't a lonely place. Standing up and adjusting his feet slightly to maintain balance, he slipped and fell right back as soon as he saw another person standing in front of him. A small boy stood quietly before the black clad man with the sore behind, looking innocent, as young children often do. The boy smiled at the man, and turned, waving his hand to beckon the stranger to follow. Again standing, the young man obliged the boy, if for no other reason than to alleviate the boredom that would come from sitting in the middle of nowhere with bad memory.

As they walked, neither of the two travelers spoke, though not for lack of trying on the part of the young man. Unfortunately, it seemed that he just couldn't get the words to come whenever he tried to speak. The thought that this was a dream had crossed his mind moments before, and being unable to talk could occur in a dream, right? Either way, the boy seemed to know where he was going, moving briskly on the frozen terrain, but not so fast as to lose his tail to the slippery surface. The two continued their journey, coming to a narrow path of ice floating on what was now shown to be not water, but air. Any thoughts that this fanciful journey could be anything more than a dream dissipated as the young man became more accustomed to traveling on the frozen ground. Looking past the boy, the man saw a large white pillar in the distance. At its base, a mass of brown was present. As the pair reached this pillar, the texture of the brown mass became clearer; having a shape not unlike vines or roots. Also, the size of the pillar became obvious, towering far above the young man. He noticed that the boy had turned to him, looking up at him patiently before beckoning him again. This time, however, the boy walked straight into the base of the tower. Now, finding a young boy on an ice field floating in mid-air was already strange enough, so seeing him walk through the wall of a large tower with no noticeable entrance point was just the frosting on the cupcake. At this point, logic seemed irrelevant, so the black clad man just went ahead and reached toward the spot where the boy had passed through the wall. Sure enough, his hand went right in, along with the rest of him as he stepped forward.

"It's bigger on the inside," stated the black clad man, feeling suddenly much smaller than even the imposing outside had made him seem. Surprised that he could now speak, he felt a tug on his hand, and looked down to see the smiling child looking back. Without letting go of him, the kid jumped off the circular platform they were standing on. Bracing himself, the young man tried with all his might to pull the child back up, but for some reason, this boy weighed much more than it appeared. Tumbling after the boy, the very confused and disoriented young man began to feel weightless as he fell, but the sensation of where "up" was located seemed to change. As the pair now moved, the gravity within the apparent tunnel seemed to shift about them, although that neither slowed nor stopped their progress. Eventually, the flight ended with the pair landing on a circular platform just like the last one. Considering all that had happened so far, it made much sense that the lost young man now just followed the child without a single question or strange thought. Exiting the tower, the two stepped into a somewhat different place. Another desert lay before them, but this one was of the more traditional variety; flat ground as far as the eye could see. Although the scenery wasn't much of a change, it still fascinated the lost man that he somehow ended up in a sandy desert after just moments before being in a wasteland of ice. Such a shift was further compounded by both environments feeling identical, temperature wise. The boy tugged again, and the young man followed after, leaving his fate to the child.

Their path passed through the bright landscape until they came to another tower. There was something different about this one, though. It seemed to almost glow with a faint greenish color. The boy again stepped into the tower, followed by the young man. However, this time, instead of going down, the child pulled the lost man into the air. Upon landing, the pair saw something rather strange. Lying in the center of the platform was another person, this time a woman, curled up with her eyes closed. She was wearing a robe of white, and had long brown hair, with a sheen from the strange light of the platform below her. The child pointed to the woman, and it was as if he spoke clearly to the young man: Take her back with you. Picking up the unconscious woman, the young man watched as a flat clear rectangle, like a sheet of glass, appeared in front of him. The boy placed his hand upon the glass thing, and an imprint of it formed under his palm, visible from the side. On the screen, a few words appeared, first the word Efix, then the word Code. Slowly after that, letters appeared, one by one. E. A. R. T. H. The floating screens within the tower began to close in upon the young man. Surrounding him, they swirled faster and faster, and started glowing brightly. Just moments later, darkness.

-Cafeteria-

"That's some dream you had." Sitting at the table, a rather average girl with long brown hair poked at her cafeteria tray, though not where there was food. Her green eyes remained fixed on her fellow diner. The diner was a rather particularly androgynous woman, discernable mostly by her clothing, a rather standard uniform for a private school student. Beyond that, there was little to define her by appearance, although the lack of something is often as important as the presence of that same thing.

Brushing a bit of her short hair behind her ear with her hand, she responded, "That's just it. It doesn't feel quite like a dream." At that moment, a fellow student walked past the pair, her tray hovering just at the height of the short-haired girl's head. Almost instinctually, she ducked under the tray. The green eyed girl across the table stopped poking at her tray with a fork, as it was a little difficult to do so after she dropped the fork in surprise at what she saw. "And that's another strange thing that's been happening today. I feel like I've lived this exact moment before."

The girl across the table had more or less regained her composure, as evidenced by her response. "That's called déjà vu, Erin," she stated, proceeding to stab a carrot with her fork.

Sighing heavily, Erin was annoyed by the simplicity of her friend's answer. "Louise, this isn't déjà vu. It's much stranger, as if this entire day has already happened," she said, watching Louise put the carrot between her teeth and bite. Erin never did understand why she liked watching mundane activities.

Chewing the carrot, Louise asked, "So, you know what questions are going to be on the lit test today? I'd love to know if I studied enough of the material, and it could serve as a kind of proof for this feeling you have."

Quickly, Erin grabbed a notebook out of her bag, and pulled out a pen. Jotting something down quickly, she then folded the paper up and handed it to Louise, smiling a little inside knowing exactly what the look on Louise's face would be after she read the note. "Open it after class, and walk with me after class when I head out into town to pick up some things."

Louise smirked a little. "What kinds of things?"

"Just stuff." Erin said. A quick glance at her watch told her it was time to go to class, so the pair stood together, separating to head to class. At that moment, Erin stopped in her tracks, and stepped back as a fellow student tripped and fell to the ground in front of her, spilling a glass of water all over the ground in front of her.

Louise walked over to her, a quizzical look in her eyes. "Did you know that..."

Stopping her, Erin put her index finger up in front of her friend's face. "After school."

-The Road Home-

"The first five questions, verbatim." Louise spoke as the pair walked, her eyes not moving from the note in front of her eyes. "I have to admit, this is a cool trick."

"It's no trick, Louise," Erin replied, wearing an annoyed look that she was certain her companion was not seeing. "I told you, it feels like I've literally lived this day before."

Finally looking up, Louise gave an annoyed look right back at Erin, though her eyes seemed to drift a moment later. "Hey, look at that."

Turning to whatever it was that caught Louise's attention, Erin saw something unfamiliar about the familiar building nearby. The old complex the two were looking at had a side door open on it. The door had a handle that could be seen, but nothing that looked like a lock, despite being closed all the time in the past. Erin's feet began to move before her mind did, pulling her toward the door to the old building. More and more of this felt familiar, almost predestined. Going with the flow of her feelings, she burst into a sprint toward the open door, not really noticing if Louise was following after her. Reaching the building, she saw a small cat walk through the open door. '_Is it leading me on?_' she wondered as she followed the cat inside.

Beyond the door, there was a staircase, leading deep into a basement. There appeared to be a light in the basement, though it wasn't close to the bottom of the staircase, but farther in. As she descended, Erin heard footsteps behind her. 'That didn't happen before,' her mind told her, sparking her to turn toward the sound.

The figure behind her was that of Louise. "Why did you run off like that?"

"I just..." Erin couldn't believe she was even doing this, but she understood why she was following the path in front of her. "I just need to know what's going on."

Shrugging, her friend finally relented. "Alright, déjà vu girl, lead the way." The pair continued down the stairs, each one made of the same cold, loud metal as the last. The decent took some time, but a few moments later, the pair stood before a lighted room.

There was no door, which was surprising considering the contents of the room. Above the doorway, there was a simple light, but nothing else in the room was simple at all. On the floor, a number of large cables crossed one fantastical machine to another. On one side of the room, a large, semi-futuristic door was waiting. It had a circular center, with golden plating over the whole of it. Next to the door was a large button and a small keypad. In the center of the room, there hung a masterpiece of futuristic computer design. Hanging from the center of the ceiling over the edge of a circular base, a chair and a set of flat screens made up an advanced looking terminal. Whoever had left this behind was a very rich genius, it would seem. However, there was one more strange thing in the room. Sitting opposite the large gold door, there were a trio of cylindrical things of some kind, like bank tubes. Inside one of the tubes was the cat Erin saw earlier. Its eyes seemed to glow in the darkness, but an almost faint red color, rather than the typical yellow one might expect to see.

"Oh, you came after the cat, I see," Louise said, apparently missing the point of how much insane technology appeared to be in the room. Walking toward the cat, Louise got closer to the large tube.

"Um, Louise? I don't think you should try to grab the cat. I mean, it could be a dangerous stray," Erin advised, noting the single entrance and small size of the tube. It was a little late for that, as her overeager friend nabbed the animal, pulling it to her chest and petting it gently. At that moment, the door on the tube jarred sharply, sending the cat running from the now stunned Louise. As she appeared to regain her bearings, the door slammed in her face before she could move.

As the tube closed, Erin turned to the central console. At that moment, a large projection of a globe appeared in the center of the circular base. To say this was all moving pretty fast would be quite the understatement, but Erin seemed to be taking it well enough. After all, with the exception of Louise being trapped in a giant bank tube, none of this was actually new. Erin finally remembered: She had been here before, but not before this moment. It was almost like she jumped back in time a little bit. Turning to the tubes behind her, she walked to the furthest right one. Standing inside, she looked at the cat. As if sensing a silent goodbye from the cat to the strange girl, the door on the tube closed, bringing on the lights inside. With the lights up, a low, soft hum built up under Erin's feet, as little lights rose up in front of her eyes. Almost hypnotically, they wanted her to close her eyes, and she obeyed their request. As the hum built louder and louder, the girl remembered everything. Her dream was real, and she was going back to that dream world once more.

-Paris, France, Kadic Academy-

"Well, your credentials are as expected. That is to say, far higher then would be expected for this position, Jeremie." The woman across the desk placed the manila resume folder on the desk, fixing her gaze on the man in front of her. She was wearing a professional demeanor along with a grayish pantsuit. With her hair pulled back and a stern look about her, she seemed so distant to Jeremie. Time does fly, and nine years is kind to no one's past perceptions. Jeremie himself was simply what one would expect to see from an intellectual professional, a formal uniform of a simple shirt and tie, clean and pressed, glasses balanced upon his nose, the small lenses sitting just high enough for his pupils to come through.

"How strangely informal of an interviewer, Miss Delmas. I would not expect such pleasantries from you," Jeremie replied, dodging what he was indirectly being asked.

The woman smiled a little. "It's Elizabeth, Jeremie. And you can't avoid explaining yourself when it comes to this." Elizabeth turned her chair a little ways to the right, putting her right side toward the interviewee. The lack of formality didn't seem special to Jeremie, however. Somehow, he figured she was always this way. "I agreed to hire you on, since I knew you were more than qualified for anything I would ask of you, but I'm curious as to why you came back here." Turning back, Elizabeth leaned in just a little bit, not far enough to be provocative, though Jeremie doubted that anyone could be very provocative in that outfit. "Why are you here? Is the jobs market that bad?"

"Not at all. I just haven't decided exactly where I want to go yet." Glancing down for a moment, Jeremie felt his body held down by something. It was little more than a feeling, but a powerful one. He couldn't tell her that he was here because he felt like something just wasn't right. Only a few hours ago, he had found himself on the same street corner for the second time in the same day, and this was the second time he had gone over his reasons for staying to Elizabeth. His hunch may have been right, and he needed to stay here a little longer to find out if it really was. "It's likely just temporary."

A sigh escaped Elizabeth's lips, but it seemed less from Jeremie's statement than from fatigue. "Sorry about that, I didn't mean to sound disingenuous. I'm glad you are willing to do this job so soon after the last professor left. I've got finances and administrative paperwork up to my eyes, and along with visiting my father, I haven't slept much these last few weeks."

"I see. Sorry to be more paperwork then, but I imagine it is easier than shopping around for qualified people to hire."

"Yes, indeed it is. Thank you for that, Jeremie." Elizabeth extended her hand across the desk, and Jeremie took it appropriately. A handshake, and that was that. Now, all that was left was to move the rest of his things into his living quarters. Jeremie stood and turned, walking away from the desk. A quick glance back confirmed that his new boss was hard at work finalizing his paperwork. Continuing out of the room, Jeremie walked past the secretary, reaching for the door handle. It turned in front of his hand, and the door opened swiftly before him.

A familiar voice came forth. "I'll get that for you, Einstein." Turning around after leaving the room, he saw a rather tall, blonde guy in a purple jogging suit. The nickname and the stupid smile were the real giveaway as to who it was.

"Odd, what's with that outfit?" Jeremie looked at his lanky friend standing before him. He seemed healthy, though the two hadn't actually seen each other in 3 years to Jeremie's memory.

Odd continued smiling as he followed the now moving Jeremie down the hall from the administrative offices. "Oh, she didn't mention it? I swear, she really needs to get a good night's sleep. I told her to mention my temporary position as the Phys Ed teacher here at Kadic."

"What, did Jim finally retire?"

"Nah, just screwed up his back again. Pretty bad this time, they might try to force him to retire this go round." Odd looked over at his old friend. "So, need any help with anything? I'm free for the rest of the day, in case you wanted to go check the factory."

Jeremie stopped cold. Turning to his friend, who had stopped at the same time, he saw that the smile had vanished from his face. "You too?"

"I've been checking the factory every so often since I came back about a month ago, but nothing. Then, today, I felt that shift." Odd's serious look made Jeremie uneasy. "A Return Trip. There's no mistaking it."

Jeremie began to move again, remembering that even now, the battles against XANA were a secret, to prevent anyone from actively trying to recreate the AI without regard to the consequences. "Yeah, let's go tonight after I finish moving my stuff."

Odd bounced back from his serious state, cheerily walking forward beside his old friend. "You want help with that? I may as well help you out. I'm kind of interested in how you live these days."

-Factory, Paris, France-

"I'm just saying, I wouldn't put your computer by the window," Odd said, giving his shoulder a rub. For the life of him, he didn't know how Jeremie could have packed up such heavy boxes when he still looked as weak as ever.

"And I'm saying that just because you can't concentrate on something when it's beautiful outside, doesn't mean that I can't," Jeremie replied. As the two reached the ledge, Odd grabbed hold of one of the ropes that hung from the ceiling. Jeremie gave him a stern look. "Odd, is it safe to be swinging on the ropes that have been hanging there for over 10 years now?"

Smiling back, Odd said, "No. But these aren't those ropes." He took a leap from the ledge, swinging through the stale air of the factory as he neared the elevator. Looking back, he caught a glimpse of Jeremie as he followed Odd's lead. Stepping aside, Odd smiled at Jeremie's bold act. "So," he said, on the verge of laughing, "trust me enough to just believe it's safe?"

"No." Expecting a further explanation, Odd was left hanging, as Jeremie didn't continue his thought. Shrugging, Odd followed Jeremie into the elevator. The pair descended into the familiar depths, bringing back the old feelings of excitement within Odd's heart. Then again, it looked as though Jeremie wasn't feeling anything at all as the elevator stopped, and the large door opened to the console.

The system was humming along as it once had, seeming untouched by the passing time. Jeremie walked to his familiar chair, and sat before the keyboard. As he began to type away, Odd watched on over his shoulder, everything looking and feeling nostalgic. He remembered playing the hero while his boring life at Kadic dragged onward. It was a place to be free from the boring things of consequence, like classes and studying. He smiled, though the smile didn't exactly last. On the screen before him, a map of various spheres appeared, with a pair of red spheres standing out among the sea of green and black.

"Its worse than I had thought," Jeremie said, pointing to the red sphere on the periphery of the screen. "This is the source of the Return Trip."

Looking on, Odd was somewhat confused and baffled, yet intrigued. "Good to know... what is it?"

Jeremie bore a noticeable scowl at Odd's question. "Odd, if it takes a quantum supercomputer as powerful as Lyoko to do a return trip, then what would that sphere have to be?"

"Oh, a Replika." Odd's answer betrayed his disappointed feeling toward Jeremie's abrasive attitude. "So, need me to go there and take a look around?"

"Yeah, actually, I will need you to do that." Turning to Odd, Jeremie read his emotions clearly. "You really want to go back in there, don't you?" Odd smiled sheepishly, shrugged, and turned to the elevator. After a quick ride down to the scanner room, it dropped him off before the scanners. One of the three opened before him, and he accepted its invitation to enter. "I'm sending you to the Forest Sector," Jeremie said, his voice booming over the intercom. It made Odd cringe a little, sparking a mental note to get Jeremie to turn the volume down a bit. "There's an unusual reading in that area, so I want you to investigate." As the sentence was finishing, the golden doors before Odd closed, thrusting him into pure darkness. As the lights came on inside the scanner, Odd closed his eyes and began to breathe deeply. A smile came across his lips as his hair stood up on his head. "Scanner, Odd. Transfer, Odd. Virtualization."

-Forest Sector, Lyoko-

"Yahoo!" Odd's yell of jubilation rang out through the trees. His Overboard zipped and darted between each obstacle, bringing back that old familiar rush he had missed from his youth. The air rushed past him, though really, there wasn't any air to feel. Odd kind of figured that it was an illusion created by his eyes and brain, creating a feeling of rushing air, but allowing him to keep his eyes open regardless of his speed.

"Stay focused, Odd," Jeremie said. His voice sounded much like a man calling in to a radio program. "The disturbance is about 200 meters ahead."

Odd glanced skyward, as if to look into Jeremie's eyes as he spoke. "Thanks for the heads up, Einstein." Turning his eyes forward, he saw a peculiar sight. The "air" ahead of him seemed heat-distorted, as if the ground were on fire up ahead. "Whoa."

"What is it, Odd?"

"The air up ahead is acting strange. I'll send you a visual."

Odd waited a moment, deciding to stop his approach until the smart guy had a chance to look at what he saw. "That is definitely unusual. Please stay there for a bit while I ponder this," Jeremie requested. Odd yawned a bit, then proceeded to do a bit of stretching. Patience wasn't necessarily a problem for him, but having a goal to achieve weakened that resolve.

"Sorry, Jeremie, but the sooner I check this out, the sooner it ends." With that, Odd leaped onto the Overboard, and zipped onward to the target location. Upon arrival, he stood quietly, looking upon a shifting...thing. Sending Jeremie a visual, Odd began to look closely at the strange phenomenon before him. Around its edge, a purple glow encircled it. The center shifted, moving like an ocean meeting the beach, ripples seeming to wash over the edge of the purple glow, yet disappear the instant they exceeded it instead of receding. Seeing his reflection shift with the waves, Odd reached his hand slowly toward the surface of the water. Then, remembering what often happened to movie characters who did similar things, he pulled back, shaking his head. He had to admit, it was very, very difficult not to touch the beautiful thing before him.

"I can't seem to do a proper analysis on the disturbance," Jeremie said. Odd continued to stare into the waves, wondering what this could really be. Reaching out, again, to touch the surface, Odd gently placed the tip of one of his claws upon the reflective surface. Upon contact with it, ripples emanated from the point he had touched, prompting him to pull his claw back out of the waves. "Well, looks like it won't hurt you," Jeremie said, revealing his prediction of Odd's actions.

"Well then, may I perhaps posit a theory about the nature of this phenomenon?" Odd said. He could swear he heard Jeremie's jaw fall onto the keyboard.

"First thing, Odd," he stated, "never talk like that again. It throws off my concentration. Second, what is your idea?"

Odd laughed a bit, and continued his thought. "I think its a portal to somewhere."

"How do you figure that?"

"Well, it didn't hurt me when I touched it," Odd explained. "Then, there's the fact that a Replika has reactivated and we no longer have the Skid, so if someone wants to hack Lyoko, they would need a way in. But mostly," he said, looking back at the wavy surface, "it kind of looks like a portal from a sci-fi movie."

Jeremie sighed. "That's your main reasoning, isn't it?" Not waiting for an answer, Jeremie continued, "We can't test your theory without sending something through that we can trace."

Odd rested his chin on his hand, pondering the situation. "Well, I could go."

"Not a chance. If it isn't stable, you could end up lost in the digital sea." Odd continued to think, and came to a solution.

"We could..."

"Overboard." Jeremie interrupted, stealing Odd's thunder. "Send the Overboard through, and I'll track it."

"Will do." Grabbing the board with one hand, Odd placed it near the portal, pointing toward it. Placing his foot on the back of the board, he gave it a good strong push, propelling it through the surface. The board pushed the waves higher as it penetrated, disappearing almost instantly upon going all the way through. Odd waited as silence around him began to make time run slowly. Sitting on the ground, he thought about the times he had spent here, fighting monsters and protecting his friends. The group had saved the world dozens of times, but now he was alone in the machine. Maybe he would have to fight again, alone this time, against XANA, or worse, an unknown force. _Am I really up for this again,_ he silently asked himself. Looking up, he then asked, _Is HE really up for this again, after all it's cost us?_

"Found it." Jeremie said, startling Odd a bit. "Your hunches may have been right."

"You mean..."

"Yeah, it's in the Replika." Odd stood, clinching his fist as he stared into the portal before him. Without a word, he rushed forward, jumping full force into the waves.

End Chapter One

The next chapter will be up soon, if you liked or disliked this one, you can leave a review on the site or email me at aurora-dot-chance73-at-gmail-dot-com. Have a good day, all!


	2. Chapter 2

Code Lyoko: A Long Time Coming

Disclaimer: I obviously don't own the show or the characters, though the story idea and original characters and concepts are mine. Also, this fic is based on the series continuity including the prequel and four seasons only.

Chapter 2:

-Replika-

"Welcome. I've been waiting for you." Before Erin, there stood the boy from her dream. He wore a simple shirt, somewhat torn around the edges, as well as a pair of shorts that appeared to be made from an old pair of pants. The appearance of his clothing was not unlike a lost boy from the old Peter Pan stories, but white and gray.

Erin stood up, brushing off her body suit out of reflex, though she noticed quite quickly that she didn't look much like a 'she' anymore. Looking around, she noticed Louise sitting on the ground to her left, wearing another strange outfit. She no longer had a skirt on, with skintight pants covering her legs. A pair of shin guards covered to her knees, and a vest covered her chest. She still looked feminine, with her long hair tied back by what looked like a small rope. At her waist, a pair of pistols were holstered, though the holsters seemed to just be stuck to her legs, rather than harnessed in any way. Reaching down, she offered a hand up, which Louise accepted. Turning back to the boy, she became a bit angered by her lack of understanding. "Okay, who are you and what are we doing here?"

"My name is Efix, and you are here because you stepped into the scanners, of course." The boy smiled, but his voice seemed cold and dead. This scared Erin a bit.

Louise, on the other hand, seemed unaffected. "I think what my friend means is, what do you want with us?" She stared into the boy's eyes as she spoke.

Efix continued smiling, but spoke in as dead a tone as he had earlier. "I need bodyguards," he said, turning his gaze to Erin. "And you pretty much volunteered when you stepped into the scanners."

"Wait just a second," Erin said, gaining her courage back completely. "What do you mean, bodyguards? I don't remember anything dangerous from the first time I was here."

Continuing to look right at her, Efix responded, "There is a malicious program within this world, using the towers to act in the real world."

"You're still confusing us," Louise said, her countenance matching her comment.

Efix sighed. "Okay, there is a lot of explaining that needs to be done, but I need you to wait for the explanation and just help me out for now." Though his actual tone did not change, Erin could now sense a kind of annoyance within his voice. "I need to deactivate the red tower that is up ahead, and I need you to help me deal with the monsters on the way."

Erin stepped back, shocked. "Wait, monsters? What the hell are you talking about?"

Efix became visably angry now, grabbing Erin's hand and pulling. "We don't have time for this, just follow me like you did the first time!" As the boy pulled her arm, Erin looked ahead, now actually noticing what lied before her. Up ahead, buildings, skyscrapers even, stood tall and numerous. The windows seemed free of glass, and the bases seemed free of doors. In the distance, above some of the buildings, a red glow was noticeable in the distance.

Louise asked the question Erin was thinking. "Which tower are you talking about?" The group had begun moving toward the dead city.

"It's the one that has a red glow above it, but it isn't one of the buildings you are seeing now," he replied, beginning to pick up the pace as they got closer. Erin followed suit, keeping up with the kid as the trio entered the city. There were a few turns here and there, but up close, the city was even more noticeably bland and dead.

As they rounded the final turn, Erin caught sight of them. Four very tall, red...things stood between the group and a path that seemed to lead to the tower in question. The tower was familiar, one of the white cylinders she remembered from her first trip into the dream world. The red things were very new, standing atop four sharp legs. They looked much like a crab's legs, with multiple joints and a ball joint connection to the bottom of the body. "That doesn't look good," she said, feeling Louise grab her arm and pull her back.

The trio ducked into a nearby alley, with Louise peaking around the corner. "Four of them, three of us," she said, moving her fingers on an imaginary calculator.

"I have no offensive abilities," Efix interjected, causing the girl to stop punching in the invisible numbers.

Louise turned to Efix, annoyed. "Can you tell us why any of this is necessary, anyway? And what are those things?"

Efix spoke calmly and clearly, likely intent on getting the pair to just do what he needed done. "Those are monsters, created by a dangerous AI named XANA." Erin listened intently, making mental notes. She felt it rather nice that he was finally starting to explain something. "XANA is capable of taking over the towers to affect the real world through powerful energy manipulation, and I can deactivate the towers to stop his activities."

Smiling with the satisfaction of finally knowing something about the ensuing insanity, Erin asked her own question. "What kind of offensive ability do I have?"

"Grab the small cylinder stuck on your back, at your waist." Reaching back, Erin found the object at the base of her spine. Pulling it free, she held it away from her body as it began to extend in both directions. A couple seconds later, a curved blade extended from one end of the four foot staff. The blade itself extended about a foot and a half, and seemed to be made of light...well, kind of.

"You have got to be kidding me," Erin said, taking the lower part of the staff in her off-hand.

"What do you mean? Scythes are cool," Louise said, with a confused look.

Erin sighed a bit, and explained exactly what was wrong with the weapon. "A scythe is a harvesting farm tool, not a weapon. It is one of the most awkward, unwieldy tools to kill someone with, excluding yourself." Still fuming a bit, she added, "I would have been better off with a shovel." Slinging the weapon over her shoulder, blade up, Erin noticed that the weapon was a bit lighter than she had expected. She stepped away from the group for a moment, and began swinging the scythe, trying to get a feel for it.

Louise looked toward the building they were standing next to. "Is there anything in here, Efix?"

"I don't really know." He looked through the glassless window, prompting Erin to do the same. As she stuck her head inside, she noticed that the building strangely had no support structure. With the skyscraper towering far above them, she saw no realistic way to ascend to the roof.

Louise dropped into the building, which had a floor set a bit lower than the ground around it. Running to one of the windows, she sparked Erin's curiosity. Dropping in and running up behind her, Erin looked through the window alongside her friend. From there, she could see the group of monsters. "This is perfect," Louise said, not turning her eyes from the window. "I can shoot them from here, and you can sneak around behind them with the kid."

Erin was satisfied by the simple plan, since such plans tended to work best. Then, a question got hold of her. Turning to Efix, she asked the all-important question. "What happens if we get hurt by the monsters?"

The boy calmly turned to her, replying with, "You'll just go back home. Only I can die here."

Erin swallowed hard. She felt her stomach churn as she thought about the business at hand. Looking again at her scythe, she silently cursed, then pulled herself back out of the building. Reaching back, she pulled the much shorter Efix up to her.

-City Sector, Replika-

About 10 years ago, Odd was an average transfer student who chased his dog into the scanner, and was transported to Lyoko for the first time. Looking upon the ruined buildings before him, the nostalgic awe that struck him when he first laid eyes on the ice sector washed over him again. He followed the walls to the sky, smiling as his gaze traveled upward.

Jeremie's voice pulled him back from his near-trance state. "That was extremely stupid, Odd."

"I'll send you a visual." he replied, not missing a beat. Of course it was stupid. He jumped into a portal to the Replika without a second thought. Then again, that's the way he was. Odd sighed a bit, disappointed that his friend didn't seem to know him as well as he'd thought.

"Odd, I'm not getting a clear picture, but this definitely doesn't look anything like what we've seen before," Jeremie said.

Odd began to move toward the buildings. "Think you can get me back if I devirtualize here?"

"Already working on it." Odd smiled broadly, satisfied with the answer. He darted into an alleyway, then another, then another. As he moved through the city, he would stop at each corner, raising his hands as if holding a pistol. He peeked around each corner, then darted to the next. Inside, he was laughing harder than he had in quite some time. Then, he saw something at the end of one alley that pulled him back to reality, so to speak.

He began to breathe a bit heavily. "Jeremie, do you read me?"

"Yes, Odd. What is it?" The tone of his voice tipped Odd off to the fact that Jeremie was expecting important news.

Unfortunately, he was going to get it. "I caught sight of four Krabes in an open area ahead," Odd said. "And that's not the worst part."

"Don't tell me," Jeremie replied. After a few seconds of Odd not saying anything, Jeremie continued, "It's an active tower, isn't it?"

"Well, you told me not to tell you," Odd said, responding to Jeremie's somewhat annoyed question.

"You need to get out of there. I haven't finished with the recall code for the virtualization program yet." Odd took a few moments to move around the building, to get a better look. Jeremie, for his part, was still talking. "And we can't deactivate the tower without..."

His voice cut off there, but not because of any interference. _It must still really hurt_, Odd thought, recalling that only Aelita could deactivate towers, and she was nowhere near Kadic at the moment. Honestly, Odd felt that dragging anybody else into this fight would be an unforgivable act, something that one only does knowing he would be deserving of the suffering he would receive. Looking upon the Krabes with marked disappointment, Odd prepared to leave. Then, he heard a pop, like a firecracker going off. Turning back, he saw a pair of the Krabes move away from the group, as every second or so, something struck the front of one of them. "Jeremie, something is attacking the Krabes!"

"What?"

-City Sector, Replika-

With each shot, Louise noticed that no shells came out of the weapon, even though every motion was identical to a standard firearm. The trigger was pulled, then the slide came back, resetting the hammer and, she figured, loading the next round. However, there was no shell being ejected, so maybe there were no rounds. Refocusing on her targets, Louise pushed the logical problem to the back of her mind, adjusting her aim for the white "eye" that seemed to be on the front of the monster. She fired again, and again, each shot softer than a real gun, but the recoil no less powerful. It was familiar enough, so adjusting after each shot was a quick as she was used to. Ahead of her, she could see all four of the monsters, their "eyes" pointing in her direction, but perhaps unable to find her. Stopping her fire for a moment, Louise removed the clip from her weapon, and noted that nothing was really unusual about the bullets she could see. Shrugging, she turned her eyes back to the enemies, which were now moving toward her location. Or, at least, two of them were. The others remained in position, guarding the small path to the tower. "Crap."

Erin glanced toward her, but Louise shot back a look that said, rather plainly, "Shut up and get going." Perhaps there was something to the sappy idea of the power of friendship, because her friend acted exactly as she wanted. Erin took to her feet, pulling Efix along with her as they darted deeper into the alleyways, to cut around the targets. Louise continued her attack, sending a few more rounds into the pair of enemies coming at her. Unfortunately, it wasn't seeming to have any effect. The pair continued moving toward her, each step cracking the ground beneath them. Now, in front of their eyes, a red glow began to build. It wasn't much longer after that until a beam struck the ground right in front of Louise.

The startled girl yelped and fell back, looking upward at the window she was at moments ago. A second later, a beam flew through the window, striking the wall behind her. More shots scattered around and through the same window, as well as those adjacent. Crawling toward the window, Louise waited for an opportunity to reply. After a few more seconds, she got her wish, with the laser fire going silent. Popping up to look outside, she was greeted by the sight of a red leg swinging toward her face. With a crash, the wall before her was torn apart by the red leg of the creature, now balanced above the grounded Louise. Rolling to the side, she narrowly avoided the pointed end of the leg as it came down, bringing the monster into the building with it. Taking to her feet, Louise dashed for the rear window, hoping that there was nothing there to greet her. At her back, the monster began firing again, with each round peppering the ground behind her, except for one. She fell to her knees as the round stung her leg, creating a kind of sparking effect around the affected area. There wasn't much pain, but it took her a moment to get back up. Pulling herself out of the rear window, she rolled away from the continuing fire, only now really feeling the pain build where she had been hit. Struggling to her feet, she fell again, a stabbing, then numbing pain flowing through her, ripping the air from her lungs. With the knowledge of what was behind her, Louise pulled herself up, and began moving away from the building.

It was then she recalled what Efix had said about the damage they took here. Turning back to the building, Louise moved to a side window, and began climbing upward. The pain in her leg was fading, and for some reason, it didn't seem to interfere with her ability to move anymore. Using the windows as a kind of climbing wall, she moved around the corner of the building, approaching the location of the one that shot her. Peeking though the window before her, Louise saw that the monster seemed to be a bit stuck, as if it tried to ram its way out of the building with its head. Taking aim, Louise held for a moment, looking around. She caught sight of another monster, standing at the opening in the building. It didn't seem to notice her, but not for lack of looking. Turning her eyes back to her trapped pursuer, she caught sight of something on the top of the monster's large, flat head. Sitting near the front of it, with light from the upper windows streaming down on it, was a black symbol of some kind. Louise took a few breaths, staring at the symbol, then looking to the other monster. Then, with one good breath, she took aim.

Slowly squeezing the trigger, she sent a round directly into the center of the symbol. As it struck, a crack appeared at the point of impact. Light streamed forth from the wound, expanding as the crack widened. Then, with only the slightest warning, the monster burst apart, scattering pieces of its body everywhere, yet not leaving any part of itself in existence after being destroyed. Louise smiled, justifiably proud of her victory. But, it wouldn't last, as a moment later, Louise felt a shot strike her shoulder. Then, another struck her head, sending her falling to the ground below. Her body, however, never made it there, as it disintegrated in the air, becoming as a brief snowfall as she left the fight.

-City Sector, Replika-

"Any advice for me, Efix?"

The boy placed his forefinger on his temple, appearing to think. He then responded. "They have some kind of weak point, but I don't know where."

Erin sighed. Gripping her weapon tightly, she took a deep breath. "After I distract them, you run."

"Okay," Efix said, nodding to emphasize his understanding of the plan. With that, Erin moved toward the two enemies in front of her. As she ran, she noticed one of the monsters turning toward her. Letting out a forceful yell, she brought the blade of her scythe toward the front left leg of the monster. The edge buried itself in the outer shell of the leg, as Erin pulled through bit by bit. The other monster seemed to step back and forth, side to side, seeming almost panicked at what it was witnessing. With one final push, she cut though the leg, forcing the monster to wobble on the remaining tripod. At that moment, the panicked one began firing, each red bolt coming from the lens-like things on the front of it. Turning her attention to it, Erin ran forward, trying to dodge the shots. She managed to do so, until the monster she had just mutilated began firing. One of the beams struck her square in the small of her back, sending her to the ground. Her back began to burn from the impact, keeping her down for a bit longer than she would have liked. Using the scythe, she pulled herself up and began to move again. The monster she had been moving toward had backed up, apparently trying to put distance between itself and Erin. Turning toward the enemy that actually had hit her, Erin began to run again, bringing the blade back for another swing. A moment later, she took another hit from behind. Strangely, she barely felt the shot hit her shoulder as she swung the blade forward at the other front leg of her enemy. Another solid strike allowed her to cut through the leg with what little strength she could manage. The pain of the second shot was beginning to kick in, and she fell to her hands and knees, landing in front of the monster. Looking forward, she saw Efix, still waiting to move from the alley. Despiration overtook her, as she mouthed the word "Go" over and over between breaths. Another shot struck her in the leg, compounding her pain as she fell forward, unable to move. Looking up from the ground, she saw Efix take off toward the tower. Rolling over with most of what strength was left, she raised her head in time to catch the monster she hadn't damaged aiming at the boy.

"Hey!" she yelled, attempting to grab the monster's attention. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to be working, as the creature charge up for a blast. Then, something hit it. Then, another thing, and another. It was coming from behind her, but Louise was over where the third monster, in the distance, was. So, that meant... what did it mean? She was beginning to regain her strength, but she still couldn't get up, and her thoughts were fuzzy. She looked behind her to see another strange sight. Another person, with a purple outfit, was pointing a fist at the monster. He had the strangest hairstyle Erin had seen outside of photographs, and he even had a tail, and ears! Deep down, she felt a bit embarrassed upon realizing that this crazy purple man was saving both her and Efix. Her mind pounding on that thought, she looked toward the tower in time to see him enter it. As he vanished from sight, the cat man jumped through her field of vision, landing upon the monster's flat head. He then pointed his fist down, and something struck the monster on the top of the head. With that, the monster started wobbling, stepping to correct itself. An explosion soon followed, and the cat man jumped over top of Erin, landing next to her and, as best she could tell, aiming at the monster she had damaged. A few moments later, she heard another explosion from her right side, as the injured creature was taken out by the cat man. He reached down to her, offering her a lift up. "Thanks," she said, taking to her feet.

"Don't come back here," the man said sternly, his gaze piercing her mind. The force of his tone surprised him, it seemed, as he made an expression of shock at his own comment. With that, a wave of light began to appear from the tower, drawing the attention of both of them.

The light washed over Erin and the man, blinding her as she felt herself slip into the infinite for merely a second, and with that, she found herself standing next to Louise, at the doorway of the building they had entered only a short time ago, stairs leading back to the computer room. They looked at each other for a moment, then, the two walked down the staircase, sure, yet unsure of what waited for them at the bottom of their rabbit hole.

-Factory, France-

"I'm absolutely positive I saw the tower deactivate," Odd said. Jeremie nodded, then returned to his calculations. This just plain didn't feel right. He was certain that his program had worked, and after many years, it seemed that XANA had come back to haunt them. Disappointment, however, was not what he was feeling. Perhaps it was a simple oversight, or maybe his program did work, and this was something new. Odd's observation of another person in the virtual world seemed to point to that possibility.

"Well, regardless of what happened, I need more information," Jeremie said, putting the finishing touches on his new program.

Odd put his hand on Jeremie's shoulder, startling him a bit, but also, reassuring him. "You mean, WE need more information," he said, with a smile that reflected on the screen's black surface, kind of.

Jeremie smiled in response, but there wasn't really any feeling behind it. He was glad to have Odd's assistance, that was true. But considering that a new potential enemy waited for them, it wasn't enough of a feeling to really warrant a smile. "Well, I'm glad to have your help, cause I need you to go back in there after I finish with this program."

"How long you think it'll will take?"

Quickly estimating, Jeremie replied, "About 6 hours or so, to be thorough."

Odd turned to the elevator. "Well then, I'm gonna get some sleep." He opened the door behind Jeremie, stepping onto the floor of the lift as he continued to speak. "You should get some sleep too, since you need to start teaching tomorrow, Professor."

Jeremie sighed as the doors closed behind him. "Same as it ever was. Get up, go to school, save the world. Only difference is instead of the student, I'm the teacher now." He then returned to his typing, making a note of some other things he needed to do.

-Abandoned Building, Replika Terminal-

"You two did very well today." The voice came from the speakers on the terminal, sending Louise about a foot in the air from her seated position. The terminal and the bank tubes were all still there, proving completely that the pair hadn't been dreaming. Sitting in the chair before the monitor, Louise watched as a window popped up on its own, but instead of a lie about being the millionth visitor to a website, Efix's face was displayed.

Smiling, Erin replied, "Thanks, I guess." Louise turned back to the keyboard and began typing, silently cursing the lack of a mouse interface.

"Hey, don't mess with that!" Efix said, his eyes even more abnormally large than Louise remembered. "You don't know what you're doing."

"Yes, I do," Louise said. Then, just to prove her wrong, the terminal closed Efix's window. Blushing, Louise frantically started using familiar Undo key shortcuts.

The window reappeared, this time with a scowling occupant. "I told you so," he said, sparking a soft, mocking laugh from Erin. Efix also began to laugh a bit, giving Louise a good feeling. She never really could help but laugh along with people, even at her own expense, and this was no different. After a minute or so of jubilation and mocking laughter, Efix spoke again. "I want to thank you, but I also have to ask for your continued help."

Erin's expression turned serious, prompting Louise's to follow. "Who was that other person in the city?" Erin asked, looking at Efix with the same analytical stare Louise was familiar with on a daily basis.

"What other person?" Efix replied, obviously quite confused.

"There was a guy in there, dressed like a cat person or something," she said, sparking Louise's interest.

Efix raised his hand to his chin, taking the thinker's position. "I don't know, maybe its someone who got in from some remote terminal." Efix smiled and seemed to laugh when he added, "I can't imagine they're dangerous, though."

Erin turned her gaze away, and visually blushed. "Well, he...did help me."

Louise smiled brightly, and began to giggle. "So, he's your hero, then?" she joked, knowing full well that Erin only blushed when she was embarrassed by what she saw as personal failure.

Erin replied, "No, but he said we shouldn't go back." She gained a countenance similar to Efix's, and was likely pondering what she had seen. "He seemed angry about it, but also apologetic."

Efix started to look a little worried, but the look faded quickly. "I still need your help with this place, though. I can't run around on my own with monsters about."

Louise sat forward, looking directly into Efix's eyes. "Well then," she said, "you need to explain things a bit better, now that we have the time for it."

Efix nodded. "True, if I'm going to ask for your help, I should explain everything." He looked to Erin, then looked back to Louise. "Can you tune out the sound of a printer?"

"There's a printer in here?" Louise asked, looking around for one amidst the technology.

"I need to print some instructions for you, and it will take some time," Efix explained, "and since we have much to discuss, I would like to talk while I'm printing the information out."

Erin shrugged. "We won't know till you start printing, right?" Efix nodded again, smiling at Erin. A moment later, a seemingly distant sound began to move through the room.

"Yeah, that won't be a problem," Louise said, focusing her ears on Efix and waiting, watching as he began to speak.

"Okay, what you see before you is the terminal of a quantum supercomputer..."

-End Chapter 2-

Just to get this speculation out of the way, no, Aelita is not dead or anything. All the main characters from the series will appear at some point, but this is intended to be a story about Jeremie most of all. I know it doesn't look like that now, but bear with me, please. Or don't, its up to readers what they choose to read. Anyway, if you would like to help me get better, review here on the site, or e-mail me at aurora-dot-chance73-at-gmail-dot-com. Note that this chapter is being uploaded earlier than originally planned, but Chapter 3 should be up in about two weeks (it is already written, I just like to stay ahead of my posts). Thanks to those of you who have read this and especially to those who have reviewed.


	3. Chapter 3

Code Lyoko: A Long Time Coming

Standard disclaimer applies. Any similarities to any person, living or not, is purely coincidental, as far as I know.

Chapter 3:

-Technology Lab, Orion High School-

Typing key by key with her left hand, Erin flipped the page in her binder with the other, reaching another wall of impenetrably complex information. Sighing, she turned her eyes back to the document on the computer. Placing her right hand on the keyboard with the left, she typed furiously, placing word behind word as she attempted to write something that sounded intelligent enough for a research paper, but in the end she knew that when she got the paper back in a few weeks, she wouldn't understand it anyway. Looking down again, she dogeared the page of Efix's instructions, then turned to her research material. _Good place for another source_, she thought, scanning over her information. However, her mind kept turning back to the strange cat man she had seen in the Replika. He sure didn't look like a monster to her, but what was he? Frustrated at her lack of concentration, she turned back to the marked page and tried to push through another few sets of instructions. _I hope Louise is having a better time with this._

A hand came down and grabbed the binder from her hands. Looking up and readying her fist, Erin stopped herself from scawling at the moment she saw Miss Porter at the opposite end of the offending arm. As she raised the binder to her face, she started to speak. "This doesn't look much like..."

She stopped, lowering the binder. She looked absolutely dumbfounded, yet subtly interested. "Are you alright, Miss Porter?" Erin asked, placing her hand on the binder's bottom edge.

"Yeah, um, continue working, Erin," she said, releasing her grip on the binder. Erin felt her heart beating a bit faster, but quickly worked to ignore it. She was glad to not be in trouble for working on something other than classwork, but Miss Porter's strange reaction made her wonder if perhaps she understood what the paper meant. Turning back to her paper, Erin saved it, and turned her gaze back to her research material. She couldn't escape it. Before her were two very boring things that she had to finish, and that was two more than she could stand.

"Hey, Erin," a voice whispered from her left. Turning toward it, she saw Alex with some papers strewn about his work area. After she looked at him, he continued. "I lost the assignment information, how do I need to format this thing?"

Smiling, elated to be free of her boring tasks, she moved her chair closer to him.

-Kadic Academy, Outdoor Athletic Field-

"Sure is a beautiful day," Elizabeth said, drawing Odd's attention to her. He smiled, then turned back to the field, watching the students as they practiced.

Without turning back to her, Odd continued the conversation. "So, done with the semester rush of paperwork, I see."

"Yeah," she said, moving into a position next to him. Odd glanced over at her, smiling at the sight. There was once something about the woman that rubbed Odd the wrong way, but that feeling was replaced by a strange kind of attraction. It was perhaps strange that he would care so much for someone who treated him and his friends so badly years ago, but she was enchanting to him now, and had been for a lot longer than he would admit to others. "So, how are things going for you, Odd?"

"Eh, fairly well," he said At that point, curiousity got hold. "Hey, Miss Delmas?"

"Yeah, Odd?"

"Did Jeremie ever mention why he wanted to work here of all places?"

With her eyes closed, Odd could see the gears turning in Elizabeth's mind. She replied quickly, though. "He said something about not knowing what he really wanted to do," she said, looking a bit confused upon listening to her answer. The confused feeling was mutual. Odd's phone then began to vibrate, drawing him away from the admittedly boring conversation topic. Pulling out the phone, he saw a text from Jeremie. It said: Come to the Factory ASAP. Looking back to the field, then to his watch, Odd noticed that he still had quite a bit of time before he could go.

Elizabeth looked at him quizzically. "What is it?" she asked.

"Um, Jeremie is asking for my help with something," he said sheepishly, adding, "I think he forgot I had to coach soccer today."

Elizabeth started to giggle a bit. "I can cover for you, if you need to go."

Odd's eyes widened with confusion. "Really?"

"Yeah, I've got an hour before I visit my father," she replied.

Odd took a moment to think about it, not sure if Jeremie really needed him now or later. "I think I'll accept your offer," he said, handing her the whistle from around his neck. "You know the rules of soccer, right?"

Laughing, she replied, "Of course."

Odd smiled widely. "I'll make it up to you, okay?" Not waiting for a reply, he dashed off into the nearby commons. Heading through the trees and bushes, he came upon something familiar. A manhole cover sat there, undisturbed for quite some time judging from its appearance. Reaching down, Odd pried the lid off the manhole, pulling it aside. Looking around quickly, he made sure no one else was around before dropping into the hole. After sealing the entrance behind him, he climbed down into the sewers. The thought then occurred to him: _Why did I even bother coming down here in the first place?_ He didn't bother dwelling on the thought, and looked over to the wall. Sure enough, there was still a skateboard there, but it didn't look very good, having sat in a dank sewer for the last nine years with no use. Shrugging, Odd began jogging toward the factory.

-Factory, Lyoko Terminal Room-

As the elevator opened behind him, Jeremie turned to greet his friend. "Good, you're here."

Odd didn't exactly look happy to see Jeremie. "Didn't you know there was soccer practice today?"

"No, sorry, I didn't know that," Jeremie replied as he readied the virtualization program. "You just finished?"

Odd sighed somewhat angrily. "You don't even know what time it is, do you?"

"Not really, no," Jeremie said. Thinking about it, he realized he probably shouldn't have answered that question at all.

"Well, Elizabeth is covering for me this time," Odd said, taking a position next to Jeremie. He seemed to be studying the monitor, but that didn't make much sense, due to the fact that Odd never understood what was on the monitor anyway.

Jeremie turned to him, genuinely surprised. "Sissi is covering for you? Doesn't she visit her father after the school day ends?"

Odd gave Jeremie a stern look. "I came here as fast as I could because that's how it always used to work. Get a text, run to the factory if you can."

That comment triggered an understanding of what was happening. "You're thinking about this as if we're still fighting XANA the way we used to."

"And you're not thinking much about how things have changed, either." Odd turned back to the screen, probably trying to find something he could understand, or maybe just looking away from Jeremie in anger. "What's the plan today then, Einstein?"

Jeremie called up the data for his new program, preparing to run it. "I need you to take something to the portal, and place an object on each side of it." Calling up an image, he showed his newest virtual creation to Odd. "It's a kind of data mining program and relay system. It will let me gather information on the Replika and run the Super Scan there as well."

Odd half-smiled. "I suppose I should be thankful that you have single-minded devotion to your work." His words were sincere, not sarcastic as Jeremie had expected. "Well, let's get to it."

Jeremie nodded, bringing the virtualization program back up. The elevator door behind him closed, and the car audibly descended. Looking at the display, he noted that one of the scanners was now occupied, and began the transfer sequence. "Transfer, Odd," he said, programming coordinates for the entrance. "Scanner, Odd," he continued, carefully checking the scanner data of Odd's digital code. With everything prepared, he hit the enter key. "Virtualization."

-Lyoko, Forest Sector-

The portal looked a bit different today, its surface moving more violently than the last time. Odd stared again into the waves, holding a strange pod object under each arm. Each was about the size of his head, a graphite color that didn't shine in light, and tulip-shaped, the bulb atop a base of small claws. Snapping from his trance, Odd placed on of the relays on the ground outside of the portal. The claws of the base gripped the surface of the ground, fastening the relay into place as the top opened. Out of it, a small antenna with a red ball on it came up only a few inches, and emitted a visible pulse. It was pretty amazing that Jeremie could come up with something so complex so quickly. "Well, not your greatest achievement, but it's hard to top reprogramming an entire world."

"Why, thank you, Odd," Jeremie replied. Odd then looked into the portal, took a step back, and stopped for a second.

"Hey, how durable are these things?" he asked, anxious to get to the Replika, but not interested in ruining the thing Jeremie had worked so hard on.

Jeremie laughed audibly, which took Odd by surprise, considering how distant the man was from his emotions on the surface. "It'll be fine, just get going and set it, I have a few more tweaks to make after they're linked."

Odd nodded, and jumped into the portal. It reminded him much of the route between the towers, a river of zeros and ones, a literal data stream, carrying him to his destination. A few moments later, he was on his hands and knees, the relay tumbling across the ground as he picked himself up. Looking around, he again noticed he was in the weird City Sector he came to the first time. He dusted himself off, and went to the relay. Positioning it upright near the portal, he watched as it did the same as the first, grabbing hold of the ground and deploying a small antenna. This one began to pulse as well, but this one continued to pulse after the first one. "You connected, Jeremie?"

"Yes, the connection is established," he replied. Odd looked around, feeling drawn to look around the area more thoroughly. Jeremie's voice returned after a moment. "I'm preparing to cloak the devices, I need you to stick near it and watch for threats."

Odd smiled, stretching his arms above his head. "You really think something's gonna show up?" he asked, continuing to stretch out his arms and legs.

"Well, if XANA really has returned, I'm certain he would send something to attack as soon as he noticed my program scanning the area." Odd nodded in agreement, and proceeded to scan the horizon for possible threats.

He didn't have to look for long. "Hey, how long is it gonna take for the cloaking to be in place?" Odd asked.

"About fifteen minutes, why do you ask?"

Stepping back and taking aim at the approaching enemies, he gave a simple reply: "Take a wild guess."

-Abandoned Building, Replika Terminal-

"Yeah, I can see that it would get in the way of class," Louise said, typing from the instructional sheets onto the terminal system. With the computer right in front of her, it wasn't really so complicated, though she did worry that Erin might still not get it for a while.

Erin continued the conversation. "But that's just the thing, if she was really concerned with just the distracting effect, then why did she just hand it back," she said, her voice somewhat blending in with the sound of the keys. Her next point, however, got Louise's attention. "The look on her face made it seem like she understood this stuff at first sight."

Stopping for a moment, Louise thought about how much sense that would make. "That is unusual, since this is a quantum computer, and average people would only know so much about them," Feeling Erin's glare on her, she quickly added, "unless they're just really, really interested in that sort of thing. You know, like me."

With a quizzical look, Erin changed the subject. "Efix, are you certain that nothing is going on?"

The boy's image came up onto the screen, the window thankfully not blocking Louise's command window. "No activated towers, but I am picking up monster activity in the City. Quite a lot of it."

Louise turned in her chair, looking at Erin. "You should go investigate, Erin," she said. Taking command of a situation always appealed to Louise, and this one was especially nice. Smiling to herself as she turned back to the monitor, she said, "Hop in one of the scanners."

"Wait, why do I have to go in? You actually took one of these things down, so shouldn't you go?"

Smiling more broadly, Louise replied, "You want to have that cat boy keep rescuing you, or do you want to prove yourself?"

"I...I, uh..." Erin stuttered out, quite obviously thrown for a loop by Louise's question. Shaking her head quickly, she finally responded. "I'll go then," she said, her eyes burning Louise fiercely.

Erin stepped up into the scanner as Louise flipped a couple pages in her notes. Typing the close command into the scanner, she blushed brightly when the scanner to the left of Erin's closed instead. Looking back somewhat frantically, she managed to get it right the second time. With Erin sealed in, Louise began typing in the necessary code for the virtualization program. "Okay, transfer process beginning for subject: Erin Christopher," she said, checking the values for Erin's data against the notes Efix gave them. "Scanner data varifying, programming entry coordinates," she continued, doing exactly what it was she said.

"Send her to the City sector, should be the forth set of safe coordinates on the list," Efix added.

Nodding, Louise flipped to the proper page and typed in the necessary information. Taking a deep breath, she saw her hand shaking as it came down to the keyboard. Setting her finger on the Enter key, she exhaled. "Here goes nothing. Virtualization, launch!"

-City Sector, Repilka-

As she fell to the ground, Erin focused on keeping herself upright. Her feet struck, and her knees bent, with her hands catching her as she fell forward. _Getting a bit better at that_, she thought, standing up and looking around. It occurred to her that she hadn't really looked at this place when she came the last time, what with Efix impatiently pulling her along. The confusion was markedly lower now, despite it only being yesterday that all of this had started. The hollow buildings stood as a mass, a crowd, looking down over a desolate area. The ground beneath her was, indeed, a street, the asphalt surface beneath her crunching audibly as the loose rocks and dust were pressed between her feet and the ground. It was peaceful, yet disturbing, like walking through a crowd of people and hearing no one speak.

A voice from the sky broke the silence. "You there, Erin?"

Looking about, her eyes darting, the shock of the sudden noise subsided after a moment, and Erin looked upward. "That you, Louise?"

"Oh, thank goodness!" she replied, sounding relieved, but also proud. Then again, as far as Erin was concerned, she had every right to be.

"Good work," Erin said, realizing after the fact that it was kind of lacking as a congratulatory sentiment. "Very good, indeed. Better than I think I could do."

"I hope not, cause you need to send me in next, after you investigate the monsters' activities," Louise replied, sounding strangely all business. At that point, from an alleyway ahead of Erin, Efix poked his head out, looking about as if to be sure he wasn't followed.

"Over here!" Erin yelled, sending the boy jumping a foot off the ground. He ran over to her, looking a bit cross.

-City Sector, Replika, Portal Area-

"The data mining program is working. I can see the area just around you, Odd," Jeremie said. It was a rather matter-of-fact statement, which made sense to Odd considering what was headed his way.

The sky before him had a rather impressive number of Hornets in it, coming over the top of the line of buildings on top of the hill. He estimated that at least fifteen of them were coming at him, enough to make his job downright impossible. "I'm gonna have some problems here, Jeremie."

"I see them." Odd waited in maddening anticipation for the enemies to get closer. Experience taught him that shooting Hornets from this range was just a waste, no matter how good a shot he was, and it had been quite some time since he had to be accurate from long ranges. "They seem to be appearing from the edge of the area I can scan. Fourteen minutes."

"I hope you aren't going to remind me every minute," Odd replied.

"Better than you asking every second," came the reply. Despite the situation, that comment caught Odd off guard enough to get a laugh. The first wave of the Hornets began to descend, approaching in an erratic pattern.

"Get ready to reload me, Einstein," Odd said as he fired off a few arrows at the approaching enemies. To his amazement, the first shot was a perfect hit, destroying the central Hornet in the squadron. The others started moving faster, circling him as they came close. Each one began to fire, the shots forcing Odd off his feet. After his hard landing, he scrambled away from the Hornets, continuing to fire when he could stop. He made it to his feet, and began shooting more effectively. His next burst of fire managed to take down two more Hornets, but he figured he had to be low on ammunition by this point. Thinking fast, he ran up the hill a little ways, turned, and jumped at the closest enemy. He sank his claws into the Hornet, bringing his left hand up to jab the eye as his right held him in the air. His plan worked, and the Hornet exploded, sending Odd falling forward as his handhold vanished. Only one unit remained, and it didn't last for long. Odd took aim at the seemingly stunned enemy. "Laser Arrow," he said, firing one last shot into the attacker. An incredible rush built inside the Lyoko Warrior as he looked back toward the swarm that waited to attack. "How're my Life Points and arrows, Jeremie?"

"Life Points are still at 100, and you are now reloaded," he answered, bringing a smile to Odd's face. As he waited for the next wave to come in, Odd was greeted by a rather unwelcome sight. On the hill, between the buildings, he watched as each alley produced a Krabe, with a pair of what were probably Kankrelats at its feet. Then again, from this distance, it could have been Bloks and it would have been impossible to tell.

"Um, Jeremie? I'm gonna need more help then just a reload this time."

-City Sector, Replika, Drop Point-

"Careful, Erin," Efix said, looking back the way he came. "I just came from the edge of the area, and the monsters are there in force."

Taking off toward the alley where Efix came from, she turned back and stopped. "I need you to lead me there, you know," she called to him, prompting him to follow. Without a verbal answer, he began to move through the alleys, with Erin close behind. The walls of empty windows went by, the shadows shifting the shades of gray as the pair moved across the solid ground. The alleyways were variant in size, though all of them had the same towering gray walls, creating a shadowy valley. Alone, this would perhaps be frightening, but with those towering red things in this world, being caught in a dark hallway with no doors would be straight out of a nightmare. It seemed this world had no night, though, at least from what Erin had seen so far. Finally, upon rounding one corner, the proverbial light waited at the end of the tunnel. Efix held his arms out, blocking Erin the best he reasonably could. Looking past him, she picked up on his intent. "Just up ahead, right?" she whispered, wishing she could get a better look from where she was. The boy nodded in reply, then ran in the opposite direction, likely headed somewhere safe. Walking slowly to the end of the alley, Erin looked out from the exit, shielding her eyes from the light as they adjusted.

It was quite a sight. Ahead of her, there was an army of creatures, standing below her, with a hill leading down from the buildings into a valley. A number of those red ones were there, but there were others. Some of them were even flying, darting back and forth through the air. She could tell that there might not be more than maybe 40, but it was still not what she bargained for. Still, if they were after something, it meant they probably shouldn't be allowed to have it. Grabbing the scythe cylinder, she drew the weapon, and started moving carefully down the hill.

-Factory, Lyoko Terminal-

"Seven minutes left, hang in there," Jeremie said, watching awestruck as Odd managed to continue surviving a real onslaught of foes. The data miner now gave him full view of the area around Odd, but all that really meant was that he could see how screwed his friend was. With only about 30 points remaining, there were still 32 enemies in the area, mostly Kankrelats. But with that many lasers coming at him, it was only a matter of time until...

_Wait a minute_, Jeremie thought. The data miner was just sitting there, undisturbed by fire, while Odd had taken a number of laser blasts. Still, everything that was happening was very strange. Why hadn't Odd been taken out yet? He hadn't actually fought for years, and he had to be out of practice. Something just didn't add up, and the entire situation continued to assault Jeremie's intellect, begging him to solve for X. And that was something he simply couldn't do without one more piece of information.

"Odd, six minutes, help is on the way," he said as he started a program. Looking though the files, he smiled, pleased that the one he needed remained in tact. Odd began yelling back to him, but Jeremie couldn't quite make out what he was saying. Perhaps he was too anxious, or even excited, but he knew his actions today would be an important step to finding the face of the new enemy he was now sure he was facing. As he finished setting the coordinates, he walked to the elevator. A moment later, he stood surrounded by the Scanners. Staring into the open door before him, he slowly, tenuously, took a step up into one of them. Another step followed, and surrounded by the golden walls, he turned to see the room disappear behind him. This wasn't really a new experience, perhaps, but then again, he was about to do something he had never done before. Well, actually, that was a lie. He'd been fighting the whole time. He was just going to try another method today.

-City Sector, Replika, Portal Area-

"What do you mean, help?" Odd shouted, calling over the sound of the attacking monsters. A Krabe fired from his left, forcing him to use the shield. The impact faded instantly, the laser vanishing into the shield as Odd returned fire. From his right, a group of Kankrelats began charging for an attack. Jumping above them, he grabbed the front leg of another Krabe, swinging past the wave of laser fire below. With his foot pressed against the leg, he fired several arrows into the group, destroying the three that had attacked. Grabbing the Krabe's main body with his claws, he pulled himself up the shifting and shaking monster. From the top of it, Odd fired at the Krabe that attacked him moment's earlier. However, he fell to his hands and knees as the Krabe he was riding moved erratically under him. Balancing on his knees and left hand, he raised his right to fire a volley into his target. Quite a few shots went wide, with one particularly wild shot hitting one of the Hornets buzzing around. "Well, I guess if you can't use skill, use luck," he said, remembering a moment later that he was pretty much on his own. The time count had stopped, and he was certain a minute had already passed since Jeremie's promise of help. Tiring of his moving platform, Odd put an arrow into the Krabe he was on, and vaulted from it, watching it explode as he fell to the ground.

For all his efforts, Odd was rewarded with a leg shot from the nearest Kankrelat. His leg stinging fiercely, he angrily grabbed it and punted the monster. Falling to the ground and breathing heavily, he couldn't remember a time he was this exhausted in Lyoko. The monsters were moving closer, most likely to barrage him with lasers and destroy the data miner. Something clicked in Odd's mind at that point. The monsters had only been attacking him, ignoring the device even with superior numbers. Did they even know the device was there? Getting up on one knee, Odd took aim at the incoming force. His sights were set on the Blok leading the group. "Laser Arrow!"

From behind Odd's right shoulder, a beam flew into the crowd of monsters, striking the Blok he had been aiming at. The shot went clear through the target, with the ground beyond the monster viewable through the hole in the eye. Turning to look at the attacker, Odd was greeted by a rather unusual sight. Standing at the portal entrance, a blond man held his left hand outstretched. In its grip was what appeared to be a short bow, with no strings, though there was a kind of arm brace that bound the bow to the wrist of its wielder. The other arm had a similar brace, with the legs featuring a pair of thick brown boots. Moving up, a simple pair of pants morphed into a tunic with some chain mail sticking out of the short sleeves. The color blue dominated the outfit, with various shades of it covering the clothing and facial markings. There were no glasses, but they weren't necessary for Odd to figure out who it was. "Jeremie?"

The man's immediate reply was the raising of his right hand, drawing back on a non-existent string as an arrow materialized from the tips of his fingers. The arrow was pretty much just a laser beam, glowing brightly as Jeremie aimed at another target. At that moment, his right hand released, sending the beam through the air. The bow remained perfectly still, and the string of light that propelled the arrow vanished. Turning his head, Odd saw that one of the Krabes had lost a leg, causing it to stumble about. Getting up, Odd vaulted onto the wounded enemy, causing it to crash to the ground under his weight. It was a decision he immediately regretted, as he fell flat on his back when the monster went down. Another beam pierced the Krabe, destroying it. "Four minutes, Odd."

"I have to admit, I wasn't expecting anything specific when you said you were sending help," Odd said, firing into the remaining monsters. The pair continued firing, as Odd focused on keeping the Kankrelats back. Suddenly, Odd heard a sharp scream, pulling his attention to Jeremie. He was on the ground, holding his stomach as it sparked. "Yeah, I forgot to mention, for some reason, lasers hurt now."

Jeremie stood back up, raising his bow again. "Something isn't right with these monsters, Odd."

Blocking a volley with his shield, Odd continued the conversation. "What do you mean by that?"

"Well, for one," Jeremie began, firing at a pair of approaching Bloks, "the monsters outnumbered you over forty to one, and you still have 30 life points."

Jumping back, Odd directed his fire toward the two remaining Hornets. "Yeah, I noticed that they can't seem to hit me or the device."

"They can't hit the device because they're after you, Odd." Jeremie stepped back for a moment, placing the first two fingers of his right hand on his forehead. Over the center of his forehead, a blue XANA symbol appeared. Jeremie closed his eyes, but Odd couldn't afford to continue watching. Firing a burst of Laser Arrows skyward, he manages to get to last of the Hornets. Turning his eyes back to the enemies, he hears Jeremie behind him. "Two minutes, and thirteen enemies remain."

Quietly counting, Odd confirmed that Jeremie was spot on. "So, your power lets you count really fast?"

"I call it Third Eye, and it lets me see all the data I could see from the console when I was watching you fight earlier."

Odd shrugged. "So, why didn't you just come in earlier?"

"I can't program things or monitor programs from here, Odd," he replied, firing a beam into the last of the Bloks. Odd attempted to fire at the Kankrelats, but soon discovered he was out of arrows.

"Well, when you put it that way, I'm glad you didn't come before," he said, moving around the left of the remaining enemies. Odd then heard another scream as he saw Jeremie get slammed in the chest by the last Krabe's leg, sending him down. Running to him, Odd jumped at the Krabe, but the monster stepped out of the way, proceeding to fire at Odd. The shot struck Odd's shoulder, but he remained virtualized, meaning he still had at least a handful of life points left. The monster wasn't going to just let him go, though, as it aimed toward him to finish the job.

Then, the monster shook, as if struck by something. Catching sight of Jeremie still on the ground in his periphery, Odd pushed himself up to see the young man in black with his scythe buried in the back of the Krabe. Pulling down hard, the man drew the monster closer to the ground before the body finally gave, bringing the scythe blade downward through the monster. With that, the monster began wobbling severely, but the man in black wasn't finished yet. He swung his blade through the monster's leg, severing it cleanly, much to his apparent surprise. "That was much easier than I thought," he said as he swung again. This time, the scythe didn't do much to the monster, forcing the young man to pull the blade through the other leg with as much strength as he appeared to have used earlier. Severing the leg, the Krabe fell to the ground, dragging itself away from its attacker. It was for naught however, as the man brought the point of the blade into the eye on the monster's head, more or less putting it out of its misery.

Standing, Odd looked the young man in the eye. He was breathing heavily, much like the last time the two had met. Looking behind him, he noticed the Kankrelats retreating toward the 'city.' A groan from Jeremie's direction grabbed the attention of both Odd and the young man. "You okay there, Einstein?"

"Now I remember why I stayed behind," he replied with a pained look. Jeremie turned his gaze upon the stranger in their midst. "So, what are you doing here?"

"Just some reconnaissance," the man answered, speaking with obvious apprehension. "What are you doing here?"

"Pretty much the same," Odd said, earning a sharp glance from his comrade. Jeremie was likely suspicious of the man, but Odd figured that since they had each saved each other from a monster, this guy couldn't be all bad. Therefore, an introduction was in order. "I'm Odd."

"Yes, you certainly are," the man said, giggling. This action struck Odd as unusual, but he had to admit, it was a somewhat funny reply.

"No, I mean my name is Odd."

The man looked at him quizzically, then turned to Jeremie. His expression changed to one of deep contemplation. He then spoke again. "Well then, Odd, I guess you can call me Zero."

Jeremie spoke up immediately. "That doesn't sound like a real name." He was obviously irate, but he had reason to be. Odd knew exactly what Jeremie was thinking, and he couldn't discount the possibility that this man might intend to use the Supercomputer for his own purposes.

"Well, Einstein and Odd, if you aren't going to use real names, I have no reason to," he replied, smirking confidently. Odd was about to clear up the misunderstanding, but the man then spoke again, making little sense. "Okay, go ahead."

A few seconds later, he began to devirtualize. He was gone in an instant, leaving Odd and Jeremie alone at the portal. A thought crossed Odd's mind. "Hey, how are we gonna get back?"

Jeremie turned to him, smiling. "I programmed a recall program to start two minutes after the cloaking program finished." He then raised his bow and took aim at Odd. "But, for you, this is much quicker." Odd laughed aloud as Jeremie drew back on the bow.

-End Chapter 3-

So, Jeremie has entered the virtual world and met up with a member of Efix's team. Also, the plan is to try uploading a chapter every two weeks, even though the first two were uploaded in about a week of each other. Apologies for uploading this later than anticipated. I also apologize for the second chapter, it feels a bit weak looking back. In any case, tell me what you think by writing a review here or emailing aurora-dot-chance73-at-gmail-dot-com.


	4. Chapter 4

Code Lyoko: A Long Time Coming

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the rights to the original series or characters. All original content, such as added characters, insane theories, and plot holes belong to the author of this work.

Chapter 4:

-Kadic Academy, Science Department Office-

A knock rang through the room, pulling Jeremie's eyes from the students' work. He was silently thankful for it, as he had lapsed into a trance while grading the lab write-ups. Simple things tended to do that, and with a brain like his, a lot of things were simple. "Come in."

A man opened the door, wearing a brown longcoat. Underneath it was a simple blue shirt and black slacks. His hair was short and brown, and his face was somewhat plain, fitting for a person dressed as he was. "You know, I don't remember this place from when I came here, and considering my grades, that's a surprise."

Jeremie smiled brightly. "Ulrich!" He stood up and walked over to greet his friend.

"Actually, I'm afraid I'm here on business," Ulrich said, motioning for Jeremie to sit back down. He did so, but was a little weary of Ulrich's comment.

"Business?" he asked. Without waiting for an answer, he continued. "What would you be investigating involving Kadic?"

Ulrich turned his eyes away from Jeremie. "Well, it isn't Kadic that I came here for."

"So, it's about Lyoko?"

Ulrich nodded. "I have a client who is looking into a bit of a conspiracy theory she has."

Jeremie rested his chin on his fist. "Conspiracy involving Lyoko...yeah, I think we pretty much know everything about that already."

"No, not Lyoko specifically," Ulrich said, pulling a manila folder from his coat. Opening it, he handed Jeremie a sheet of paper. "She calls herself the Oracle of Delphi, and she wants to know about the remains of a quantum computer she found at this location. Those coordinates look familiar?"

Indeed, they did. The location was that of the first Replika that the Lyoko team had destroyed all those years ago. "Yeah, so she's confused about a Replika. Looks like you're gonna have to cut off this contract."

"Actually, that's the thing. I think she might be on to something."

Jeremie laughed aloud, taken somewhat by surprise by the comment. "Oh, that's a good one, Odd."

Ulrich tossed the entire folder in front of Jeremie. "I'm serious," he stated sternly. Jeremie stopped his laughter instantly, and opened the folder. Inside were pictures of various components for the Replika supercomputers. They were more or less identical to the various components used for the Lyoko computer, but there were some more modern components among the group. "I need to know where these components were acquired from, and you're the only one who might have a good chance of helping me."

Jeremie's eyes widened, and he shook his head. "Oh, no, no, no. I'm not helping you hack into any government or corporate computer systems again."

"I suppose not, but don't you want to know what might have caused those Return Trips last week?" The question caught Jeremie off guard, and sparked his curiosity more than he would have expected. Ulrich continued, his expression one of urgency. "If we can find out how the supercomputer components got to the Replika locations, we can figure out where there might be another operating quantum computer with a Return to the Past program."

"How did you know it wasn't just me doing the Return Trip?"

Ulrich smiled. "Simple. I knew that no one I know would ever do that." Turning to the door, he placed his hand on the knob before turning back with one last comment. "I'm staying in a nearby hotel. My mobile number is in the file, call me if you change your mind." Then, he was gone, leaving Jeremie with the information. He stared at the file for a moment, then looked at the papers he had left to grade. Smiling, yet disappointed, he went back to grading the work, pushing the file to the edge of the desk.

-Orion High School, Athletic Field-

Erin stretched her legs out before her, bending them back under the bench after a moment. Next to her, Louise was messing with her laptop, with the keys ticking away as she worked. "Just about done," she said, reading Erin's stretching as a sign of boredom.

Erin smiled brightly. "So, we'll be able to talk to Efix from anywhere then?"

"Yeah, I almost have the configuration done." Louise was fixated on the screen now, staring into it deeply. "We need a connection though."

"So, where would that be?" Erin said, glancing over her friend's shoulder. Try as she might, nothing on the screen really made any sense to her.

Louise moved the computer out of Erin's line of sight. "The school has a network, but other than that, we can connect at almost any coffee shop."

Erin giggled a bit at that idea. "Yeah, we could hang out with all the people writing screenplays, or whatever people do at coffee shops."

"Yeah, like drink coffee," Louise stated, hitting the last of the keys sharply. "And done."

Erin quickly moved to the opposite side of Louise to get another good look. A moment later, Efix's face popped up on the screen. "Wow, that's pretty cool."

Louise smiled broadly. "Figured you'd think that."

"So, about your code name..." Erin began.

Louise turned to her with a rather annoyed look. "Why did you even do that?"

"Do what?"

"Give those guys a fake name." Erin had to admit to herself that Louise may have had a point, but since the other two people in the Replika had given her such obviously fake names, she had simply replied in kind.

Erin shrugged, turning her gaze to Efix. "What do you think of the idea of code names, Efix?"

The boy didn't change his expression, but he responded after a bit of a pause. "It's probably best that people don't know who you are, so maybe a fake name is a good plan." Erin was rather pleased with the boy's agreement.

Louise relented. "Okay, what is it going to be then?"

"I think that Lock is a good name." Erin said. Without waiting for the obvious question, she continued. "Kind of like when a pilot targets an enemy plane, they lock onto it."

Louise looked a tad dumbfounded. "I think that might be the stupidest thing you have ever said." Erin's felt her pride being strangled within. "But, it's not a bad name. I guess it's good enough."

The girl's mood instantly brightened. "Well, in any case, it's your turn for training today, Louise." Nodding in response, Louise closed the laptop and stood, placing it in her bag. Erin got up behind her, and the two began to walk.

As they left the schoolyard, Louise glanced in her bag for a moment, and reached in to press something. She then turned to her friend as they headed down the path toward the abandoned building. "Are you sure we should really be doing this?"

"Doing what?" Erin said. It had been some time since someone asked her that question, but it usually had to do with a different kind of situation, whenever a girl she was with had reservations about what they planned to do.

Louise stopped for a moment, staring at the building that housed the Replika Terminal. Erin knew what she meant by her comment earlier, but still felt like maybe something hadn't been said yet. "We haven't had any real problems aside from those two days last week, and we have no idea if Efix is even trustworthy."

It was clear that Louise was probably in the right about the situation, but Erin felt inclined to keep watching over the boy. Each time she entered the virtual world, she felt like maybe there was something worthwhile that she could do. "If you don't want to do this anymore, that's okay, but I'm going to keep helping him."

Her friend brushed her hair behind her ear, showing the left side of her face as she smiled without breaking eye contact. "You do, huh? Well then, I guess I can't be a good voice of reason if I'm actually kind of excited to be doing this...whatever it is we're doing." Grabbing Louise's hand, Erin pulled her along as the pair laughed and ran to the door.

-Kadic Academy, Principal's Office-

Elizabeth stood quietly, in disbelief for a moment. Then, she approached Ulrich, and wove her arms around him, greeting her long lost friend. As she stepped away, she noticed Odd entering behind him. "It's good to see you again, Ulrich."

He smiled in response. "The feeling is mutual." Despite the time that had passed, Ulrich's presence still sent her heart into a frenzy. Realizing that she was probably blushing, Elizabeth sat back at her desk, looking at whatever it was that was in front of her.

She figured out that it was a disciplinary report, but that was all she got before turning back to Ulrich. "So, what brings you back?"

"Well, I have some business in France, and I wanted to talk to Jeremie about helping me," Ulrich replied. He spoke in the same seemingly cold tone she remembered him always having, but Elizabeth, like all of Ulrich's friends, could sense the subtle emotions he often displayed.

She then giggled at a sudden realization. "You know, that's three little members of my circle of friends that returned to this place over a week. It's almost like some kind of conspiracy brought you all together."

Odd reacted rather noticably, jumping a bit, as though a spider dropped in front of his face. Ulrich just smiled. "Yeah, it is pretty weird, I guess."

Behind him, Odd jumped again, then reached into his pocket for his mobile. Elizabeth half-frowned at him, crossing her arms as she sat back. "Jeremie need you two for something important again?"

Odd tapped Ulrich on the shoulder, nodding once after the man turned to him. "We'll be back shortly, boss," he said, smiling. Seconds later the pair were gone, leaving Elizabeth alone in the office. Looking back at the papers in front of her, she turned her eyes back to the door almost immediately. Something about all this running out seemed way too familiar to her, and she began to recall that she never did figure out what Jeremie and his friends were up to all those years ago. Stopping for a second to consider her position, she made her choice, and left the room. "Restroom," she said as she walked past her secretary, not glancing in her direction for even an instant. She was on a mission, the same one she had been on time and again. Then again, this time, she was signing the checks, and it concerned her on a professional level as well as a personal level to find out just what the trio was up to now.

Following the pair out of the building, she kept them in sight as they trekked out the front gates of the Kadic grounds. Staying behind cover, she kept up as the pair moved through the streets, jogging along. As she followed, it occurred that almost nobody observing them could possibly ignore how strange it looked. A man in a jogging suit jogging was normal. That man jogging with a man in a long coat in the early autumn was a bit less normal. Said pair being followed by a semi-formally dressed woman jogging barefoot behind them on the pavement, carrying her heels in her hands...now that was just plain weird. Then again, she didn't care, continuing her mission with little regard to the many reasons she really shouldn't be following Odd and Ulrich. Soon enough, the end of the journey came, standing at the bridge of the abandoned factory that always seemed a bit out of place for her. Noticing a bird upon the ledge above the door, she recalled why the factory was still standing after a demolition crew had come to tear it down. As she entered, the two were standing at an elevator below her. In front of her, a pair of ropes hung, still swinging a bit after, she assumed, Odd and Ulrich had dropped down using them. The elevator opened, and Elizabeth saw her opportunity slipping away. She jumped forward, grabbing the rope and swinging down to the floor of the factory. Upon hitting the ground, she sprinted to the now closing door, ducking in just as it shut. Unfortunately, she didn't exactly stop in time to avoid hitting the back of the car. Falling to the ground, her hands began to hurt from the rope, with her face and butt joining the pain party from the two impacts she had just suffered. "No way," she heard, but at the moment, was rather unsure of who had said it. The elevator decended, stopping a ways down, but not opening. Looking up, she saw Odd open a panel of buttons. Ulrich grabbed his wrist.

"Is it really okay to just punch in the code with her here?" he asked, whispering just loud enough that she could hear. The pain in her head was fading quickly, and her rear was following suit.

Odd smiled broadly, taking on his typical carefree appearance. "You saw her get in here, right? She earned it, man." Ulrich looked back at her, then released Odd's wrist, nodding in reply. Ulrich held his hand down to the confused woman, who took it gladly. He helped her up, as the door to the elevator opened behind her. Turning, she saw an amazing sight. From the ceiling of the circular room, a mass of very large wires extended downward, connecting to a large monitor. In the center of the floor, a large circle of metal sat, with a floating image above it. It looked like a globe floating in the air, and was transparent, with a smaller globe in the center surrounded by four broken oval-like shapes.

In the chair that sat before the large monitor, Jeremie was facing the terminal. He did not turn, but he had surely noticed her. "You shouldn't have come here, Elizabeth."

Odd spoke quickly. "Does it really matter if she is here? We came to investigate a tower that is active in the Replika." Turning to her with a strange, sad look on his face, Odd continued. "She probably won't remember what happens anyway."

A strong feeling struck Elizabeth. It wasn't fear, though it made her want to run away anyway. Something strange was definitely going on here, and she somehow knew she had been here before. After a few moments of not hearing anything that the other three were saying, it hit her. "This is the place I saw in my dream."

The conversation around her stopped cold. Jeremie's jaw was as far down as it could be, and both Ulrich and Odd had confused looks. It was Ulrich who broke the short silence. "Didn't Yumi say back then that William remembered the alternate time streams in his dreams?"

Jeremie spoke again, changing the subject to what his boss could only guess was the reason they had all come here. "We can talk about this later. Actually, we WILL talk about this later, but for now, I need you two to go in and investigate."

"With bells on our toes, Einstein," Odd replied, turning toward the elevator. Ulrich was close behind, with the doors closing behind them. Walking up to Jeremie, Elizabeth looked at the monitor. Her eyes traveled the room again, from the keyboard to the many wires following the floor and the walls.

"What is this place, Jeremie?"

Jeremie turned to her, his face cold and blank. "I'm tempted to call it Pandora's Box"

-Replika, in the vicinity of the Active Tower-

"Erin, this place is amazing," Louise stated, taking in the sights before her as she stood. Exactly where she stood was amazing in and of itself. Below her feet, the ground was actually a solid cloud, fluffy and pure, yet not blinding like a field of snow under the sun. Around her, a beautiful blue sky surrounded the area, as the clouds formed the pathways, connecting amongst the nimbus pillars whose gray color brought a colder palette to the area. "I'll send you here for your next training session."

The disembodied voice of her friend came through the air. "We have a job to do today, Louise. Efix is just up ahead, if I'm reading this screen right."

Louise rolled her eyes. It had been an entire week watching the monitor, and Erin still hadn't gotten a handle on reading the information. In a way, it was rather humorous that Erin was able to use the virtualization program at all, but she didn't make any mistakes with it to Louise's knowledge. "Come on, info junkie, I know you can do it," she said as she ran ahead along the cloud path. The ground beneath her gave somewhat, and made a sound not unlike thin ice cracking bit by bit under her. _I guess it makes sense that if I'm running on water, it would be frozen,_ she reasoned, noting that the ground was surprisingly not slick in any way.

Efix waved his hands in the air as Louise rounded a corner. Jogging the short distance to him, the girl stopped to catch her breath. She checked each of her firearms as Efix spoke. "The tower is up ahead, but you probably can't see it from here." Looking around her, she noticed a stark change. The beautiful blue clear sky was now veiled with a thickening fog that softened the white of the pathways and deepened the gray of the nimbus.

"Uh, Erin, is it normal for fog to appear really high in the air really quickly?"

After a moment, she answered. "Well, fog is pretty much just stratus clouds, and ground fog can rise into the air, but I don't think it happens as fast as you're probably asking."

Louise shivered a bit, but it wasn't from any temprature change, as the air seemed to be the same temperature in the virtual world at all times. No, this was a bit of fear seeping in. "We should get moving then, Efix," she said, hoping she could fake bravery effectively enough to keep the boy from panicking. Then again, she probably wouldn't have been able to tell, what with his usually blank expression.

"Yes, let's go now," he said, grabbing her hand as she extended it to him. It was clearly best that they not get separated if the fog grew any thicker. The pair continued on the path, starting out fast, but slowing their pace as the air become more impenetrable. The fog eventually made it difficult for Louise to even see her traveling companion.

"I see the tower ahead on the monitor," Erin said, causing Louise to jump about a half foot off the ground.

"Don't scare me like that!" she yelled, causing Efix to recoil from her a bit. Embarrassed, Louise softened her tone. "Sorry, Efix."

Erin sounded rather annoyed when she replied. "Sorry, but unfortunately, I need to tell you something kind of important, Lock."

"That code name thing?" Louise asked. Thinking a moment, it became clear what Erin was probably trying to tell her. "So, your friends are here?"

"Well, not necessarily, but I'm picking up some other life forms in there, so even if it's a group of monsters..."

Louise wasn't interested in drawn out explanations today, not with a job to do. "Yeah, yeah, so how far is the tower from us and what direction?"

"Actually, I don't really know the distance, but if you keep following the path you are on, you'll run into a platform with the monsters and the tower." It occurred to Louise at this point that both of the girls were blind, just in different fashions. Swallowing hard, she pulled Efix forward sharply as she began to run down the path.

-Replika, Sky Sector-

It wouldn't surprise Ulrich if people thought of him as a driven man. His passion for getting a job done right had definitely improved since his days of academia, but when it came to Lyoko, it wasn't just about the job. The feeling of virtualization reminded him again to thank XANA for bringing him and Yumi closer, but he hoped beyond anything else that he never had the opportunity to do so. Looking around him, it was quite clear that some things had changed in the last few years in the virtual plane. "We're in, Jeremie."

"Good, the tower should be up ahead. Just follow the path you're on."

Odd jumped into the conversation here. "And then what, Einstein? We can't deactivate it."

"But THEY can, or the first one wouldn't have been deactivated," Jeremie replied confidently.

Ulrich grabbed the reins of the conversation again after that. "Wait, who's 'they'?"

"A group of people who are inside the Replika."

"How do you know it's a group, we've only seen one," Odd pointed out.

Jeremie logically explained his theory. "One person inside, one person outside, and the tower deactivated while you were standing next to the person we have seen already, so that would mean three people."

Odd gestured to Ulrich to follow, but he didn't feel it would be reasonable for the faster one to follow the slower one. "Super Sprint," he called out, taking off down the path. He heard Odd shouting something behind him, but the sound was gone in an instant. Tearing off down the path, he took in the sights as well as he could. The other paths were little more than white blurs, the storm clouds that were near the branches of the paths flew by a bit slower. Soon enough, he came upon an approaching fog. Slowing to regular running speed, he continued onward. After only a short distance, the fog had become thick enough to prevent him from seeing anything. "Hey Jeremie, how far to the tower?"

"It's about 300 meters ahead, in the middle of a large platform-like hub," Jeremie replied. He was quite obviously annoyed by Ulrich's solo run to the tower. "And wait there for Odd, please."

"Will do," Ulrich replied. Back in the real world, it wouldn't have bothered him to wait for help, but in this place, there was often both urgency and a lack of consequence for reckless behavior. A few moments later, a pair of feet could be heard from behind. Odd materialized out of the fog behind Ulrich, and the duo continued together down the path. After a short distance, the edges of the ground widened, signaling that they had reached the location Jeremie had mentioned. "Jeremie, where's the..."

A gunshot rang through the fog, interrupting Ulrich. Turning toward the sound, Ulrich caught sight of multiple laser blasts lighting up the fog. They were pretty close to the ground, which meant that at least the enemies weren't fliers. "No time for questions," Odd said, running towards the firefight. "If they don't make it to the tower, they can't deactivate it." Ulrich followed after him, drawing his right blade. The blasts got brighter and brighter as he ran forward, while Odd began firing into the fog at the monsters.

Suddenly, a Blok appeared before the warrior as he reached the point of battle, the fog now being thick enough to almost completely blind anyone in it. "Impact," he called, jamming his blade into one of the monster's eyes. It was a solid hit, destroying the Blok in a flash that drew fire onto Ulrich's location. Stepping aside, he heard Odd come from behind. His compatriot ran next to him, jumping into the fog toward the attacks. After a moment, another flash lit up the fog, with Odd's silhouette barely visible at the point of origin. It was at this point that Ulrich could finally locate the gunfire in the area. Catching a muzzle flash from the corner of his eye, he turned to the left to look toward the source. A third flash from the monster's burst through the fog, but with this one, the mists began to vanish rapidly around Ulrich. To his right, Odd stood, breathing heavily. To his left, there was a young woman with a pistol, aiming toward Odd. Wasting no time, Ulrich ran straight at the gun-woman, bringing his sword to bear on her. She glanced at him as she lowered her weapon. Falling backward, the girl brought her gun up as Ulrich swung his sword at her. Stopping himself for a moment, he adjusted his weapon to strike at the trigger guard. Looking at her as she held his weapon up with her gun, he tried to gauge her personality, which was admittedly hard in the virtual world.

She pushed fiercely against his blade, scrambling back and getting to her feet. On a pathway behind her, a young boy stood alone. He looked like he was in a complete trance, not focusing on anything in front of him. Backing off, Ulrich stood beside Odd as the young woman drew a second gun with her free hand. "What's your name, miss?" Ulrich asked.

The girl was taken aback by the question, but she seemed to regain her composure fairly quickly. "Lock. Call me Lock."

Ulrich drew his second blade, readying himself to attack. "Nice to meet you, Lock. I'm Ulrich." With that, he lunged at the girl with all his strength.

-Abandoned Building, Replika Terminal-

"This is bad. If they attack Efix..." Erin said to herself, grabbing her bound instructions for the terminal. Frantically, she flipped through the papers, looking for anything that might possibly leap out to help her. "Damn it, I haven't translated this part yet."

"I thought that was in English when I saw it." The familiar voice caused the girl to stop cold. She turned to see Miss Porter standing behind her. She walked to the terminal and looked over Erin's shoulder at the instruction sheets. "I thought so."

"What are you doing here?" the shocked girl asked, standing up and back from the terminal. Miss Porter immediately took her place in the seat.

The teacher flipped through some of the early pages of the instructions, then closed the packet and placed it on Erin's bag next to the terminal. "Get in the scanner," she said, typing away on the console.

Erin didn't immediately follow her instructions, which made perfect sense to her, as there were many more questions to be answered now. "How do you know what this stuff is?" she asks.

She didn't get a real answer. "Just get in the scanner, Erin, and help your friend." Erin decided that it would be best to just go to the virtual world to help Louise, since it seemed like no one else remembered the repeating days from their first trip. Standing in the scanner, the door shut on her, placing her in the familiar dark. The lights appeared as they had each time before, and Erin closed her eyes.

"Hang on, Louise."

-Replika, Sky Sector-

Louise leveled her guns at the cat-like man, firing a few rounds. The shots flew rather wide, since firing a gun with one hand didn't let her stabilize it. Cursing her idiocy, she went to holster the second weapon when Ulrich came at her with both blades. Raising her weapons, she caught the swords very improbably. At this point, a suspicion arose in her. Pushing away from the swordsman, she holstered a pistol in the right holster, then switched her left gun to her right hand. "Are you even trying to hit me?" she called to Ulrich, firing a few rounds in his direction. He sprinted toward her, leaving a yellow light streak behind as he moved about to avoid fire.

Reaching her through the sustained fire, he began to run in a circle about the bewildered girl. "Triangulate," he shouted, as Louise noticed that he was, in fact, running in a triangular pattern. At each point of the triangle, an Ulrich stood, sword at the ready. Aiming quickly, Louise fired a round into the Ulrich directly behind her, disintegrating him with the single shot. Instead of a sense of victory, panic set in, as the other two Ulrichs moved in toward her. Switching hands with her unholstered weapon, she drew the other as the pair lunged at her. She leveled each weapon at a different attacker and fired, sending one Ulrich flying as he vanished like the first one. The second appeared to be hit, but didn't seem to feel the shot, as he still managed to strike Louise in the side. The blade cut through her, though there was no blood, only a little bit of the dust that she saw when she destroyed the clones moments ago. Falling to one knee, Louise dropped her weapons and clutched her side. Looking up as she grabbed one of her weapons, she noticed Ulrich standing near the cat-like man. The pair was a pretty good distance from her, with the cat man pointing one of his fists at her and the swordsman holding his blades down at his sides. After retrieving both weapons, she struggled to her feet and glanced back. Seeing Efix still in a trance, she turned her attention back to the pair of warriors. Raising her weapons, she ran at them. Taking a second attempt at beating the cat man, she leaped into the air, firing a rain of bullets toward the pair. Several shots managed to hit, but they didn't appear to do anything. Upon landing, she got up off her knees just in time to catch the cat man's foot right in her stomach, sending her back. Sliding on the ground a bit, she groaned and pulled herself up as best she could.

"Damn it. I need help." The very sore girl raised her weapons only to discover that the slide was back on each. Empty. Looking at the more powerful foes before her, she felt another rush of panic, turning to check on Efix again. The boy continued to stand frozen, entranced, and Louise cursed under her breath. Ulrich and his companion didn't move from their positions, but that didn't put her mind at ease in the least. "Help me, Erin," she whispered, almost praying for her friend to show.

"Lock!" The voice called from her left, drawing the focus of all three combatants. There, Erin stood, her scythe drawn and her teeth bared. Running to Louise, the new arrival placed herself between her worn-out friend and the pair of warriors in front of the tower. Staring into Ulrich's eyes, she spoke boldly. "Who's your little friend here, Odd?"

The cat man smiled a sinister smile. "Why, my dear Zero, that would be my old friend Ulrich." He laughed a boisterous, playful laugh, and smiled genuinely after he finished. "This is gonna be fun."

Ulrich raised his blades to form a cross in front of him. "Let's see what they can do, huh Odd?" Odd pointed his fist toward the girls, continuing to smile.

Louise stood back for a moment, grateful to see her friend, but very confused. What happened next only added to the confusion. On the outsides of her holsters, a pair of clips appeared, shocking the girl even more. The shock turned to thankfulness, though, as she reloaded her weapons with the newly materialized ammunition. "I hope that helps you." The words came from a woman's voice, forceful and soft at once.

Erin spoke quietly to Louise, following after the disembodied voice. "I'm expecting an explanation later, myself, but just go with it for now."

Louise stepped forward, taking a position next to Erin. "Isn't that what we always do anyway?"

The girls smiled in unison as Erin replied. "Life's more fun with surprises." The men across from them seemed to agree, smiling broadly themselves.

-End Chapter 4-

Made it to the fourth chapter. Not exactly where in the story I expected to end the chapter, but I got everything in here that needed to be here. I apologize for this being later than expected, I've had a rather busy two weeks. Put a review up on this site, or email me at aurora-dot-chanCE73-at-gmail-dot-com. Hard at work on the next chapters, so they'll be up soon enough. Thanks for reading.


	5. Chapter 5

Code Lyoko: A Long Time Coming

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the rights to the original series or characters. All original content, such as silly cliffhangers and plot holes belong to the author of this work.

Chapter 5:

-Replika, Sky Sector-

"I'll take the swordsman," Erin said, shifting the scythe in her hands. She angled the blade laterally and held the weapon like a spear. She began to move toward Ulrich, slower at first, quickening her pace until she was sprinting at him full speed. He was ready for the charge, blocking the scythe as Erin swung it. He spun on his left foot, bringing his second blade down to push the weapon into the ground. His spin continued as he brought the first blade down toward Erin's shoulder. Stepping back with her right foot, Erin brought the rear end of the weapon up to deflect the blow, moving her body out of the attack area. As the blade struck the staff, it slid downward, nearly striking Erin's hand had she not moved it around the decending edge. Pushing herself up with her feet, she jumped away from the sword wielder and reset her grip on her weapon. She held the weapon like a staff, getting herself ready to defend against Ulrich's attacks. However, he simply stood there, looking past her. She didn't really want to turn her attention away, but it really felt like she should check on Efix. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw the boy begin to move toward the tower. Turning back to Ulrich, she caught sight of his sword coming at her. Spinning the scythe, she repelled the thrust, but it threw her off balance, knocking her down. The other blade was soon mere millimeters from her face.

"You have potential, young man, but not enough to beat me," Ulrich said, never looking at her as he did. His eyes were noticeably fixed on the now mobile Efix, as if he were studying the boy's actions. Erin was helpless to protect him, but the man who had bested her didn't seem to want to attack him.

"You aren't really an enemy, are you?" she asked, still switching her prospective from the blade to Efix to Louise, who was still fighting with Odd quite a distance from themselves.

Ulrich's expression softened a bit. "I don't know if I'm an enemy at the moment, but I am wary of this place, and anyone who comes here." He sheethed his blade and kicked Erin's scythe away from the pair. "My friends and I saved the world from this place once, and I don't want it to become a threat again."

"You fought XANA before?" Erin asked, exaggerating her shocked expression. She couldn't be too sure whether this man could be trusted, but perhaps if she dropped the enemy's name, she could gauge this man's allegiance.

"Yes, we did," he replied, maintaining his current stoic attitude. "And we will again, if we must."

"Then help us protect Efix from the monsters," she said, asking genuinely. It was worth a shot to try gaining some allies.

The man shook his head. "I wonder what that tower was meant to do?" he asked, drawing Erin's eyes to the tower just as Efix completely disappeared into it.

-Replika, Sky Sector-

Odd continued firing, aiming around the girl's feet. She took the bait, again jumping into the air to fire at him. Rushing forward, Odd slid underneath Lock as she tried and failed to land any hits on him. Thrusting his feet upward as he pushed up on his hands, he planted both feet right in her gut, appearing to knock the air out of her. Using her forward momentum, he fell on his face, sending her head straight into the ground. Picking himself up, he turned to his downed opponent. She slowly pushed herself up, getting to her feet for a moment before falling backward to a seated position. "You're a tough one," he said, reaching out his hand to help her up.

Lock wore a tired, tremendously confused look. She raised her weapon at Odd. However, her arm didn't seem to want to hold it up, so it fell back to the ground, landing a short distance from her. "You don't want to fight, do you," she asked, though it was really more of a statement.

"If you're fighting the monsters and deactivating the towers, I can't believe you would really be an enemy," Odd replied, grabbing her wrist and pulling. She remained seated, her rear dragging a bit on the ground.

Then, a spark of life came to her eyes, and she pulled herself to her feet. "I guess so, but who are you, really?"

Odd looked toward the tower, catching sight of that strange boy entering at the base. "Not really enough time to go into that, but I'll say that you are playing with fire, and shouldn't come back here." Lock looked over toward the tower as a white light emanated from below, a perfect sphere that grew and grew. If she had wanted to respond, there wouldn't be time, but Odd knew better than to expect the pair to simply walk away. Hell, he wouldn't have been convinced to leave either.

-Kadic Academy, Principal's Office-

"...It's almost like some kind of conspiracy brought you all together," Elizabeth said. Ulrich smiled slyly, as Odd, standing next to him, pulled his phone from his pocket.

"Looks like Jeremie needs some help with something after work today." He returned the phone to its place, and turned to the door.

After he was gone, Ulrich turned to Elizabeth, leaning in as he began to speak. "You should give him a chance." Her face burned brightly, but it began to cool after Ulrich's statement. "He's a good match for you."

Elizabeth stood up, backing away from her former obsession with fervor. "Why would you assume that I even..."

"Come off it," Ulrich interrupted. He spoke directly, his expression piercing with his words. "You didn't just hire him because he was a friend in need." Stepping back, Ulrich relaxed a bit, certain that his message got through. "You like him, he likes you, give it a chance."

The woman sat down, deep in thought. Ulrich pulled out a piece of paper and quickly jotted down an address. Placing the paper on the desk before her, she leaned over it, examining it. "What is this?"

"Odd will be there tonight. Go see him there after you visit your dad." Elizabeth was taken aback for a moment by Ulrich's knowledge of her post-work visits, but the surprise didn't last very long at all. As he turned to leave the room, Ulrich turned back for a moment with his hand on the door handle. "And, give my regards to your father from a former student." Walking from the room, he turned his head back for a moment, catching a small smile as it briefly crossed her face. He turned back to the exit, and couldn't help but do the same. _Note to self: Call Yumi, tell her I love her._

-Orion High School, Cafeteria-

"Did Miss Porter explain why she wanted us to stay in the cafeteria after school today?" Louise asked before loudly sipping at a can of soda.

Erin took a swig from a water bottle. "No, she just wanted us to wait here."

"But I don't even have a class with her, how does this involve me?"

Erin smirked. "My dear, anything that happens to me seems to involve you. You are my closest friend, after all." She finished the bottle of water, resealed it, and tossed it toward the nearby plastic bin. The shot bounced off the wall behind it, and fell in.

"Nice toss," Louise said, taking another drink from her soda. She then held up the can, shaking it a bit near her ear. "They never last," she said, tossing the can toward a different bin. It managed to land dead center, making a satisfying clang against the other cans.

Erin smiled for a moment, but was interrupted by her phone. Opening it, she read the text aloud. "Come to the computer. We have something to discuss."

"Wait, how did she even remember the computer when nobody else remembers what happens during the period of time that we wind back?" Louise asked.

Erin shrugged as she stood. "We'll probably find out from her when we get there." It occurred to her that being asked for her cell number by her teacher was actually a bit strange, but it made perfect sense now. Louise grabbed her computer bag and followed along as Erin walked to the door. The pair left the school through the door leading to the athletic field. Louise had come up with the idea to leave that way each day, as it allowed them to stay away from the sidewalks and streets on the way to the supercomputer. The trip was rather short, with the building being only about four blocks from the school. It was a nice jog, except for the fact that Louise was hauling a large bag with her all the time, but Erin never noticed her having any trouble keeping up.

The pair arrived at the staircase, looking through the open doorway. "After you," Louise said, stepping to the side and extending her hand. Erin bowed a little, graciously, and giggled as she descended into the basement. The pair entered the room to see a woman typing away at the console, seemingly oblivious to their arrival.

"Welcome, girls. You closed the door upstairs, right?"

Louise stopped, turned, and ran back up the stairs. Erin nodded. "Yeah, I guess that explains how you got in here. I think we need to get a new lock for that door..."

"Already did, and some tools." Without turning, she pointed over to a small table that Erin hadn't noticed before. A toolbox and a lock were sitting on the table.

She turned back to her teacher. "How long have you known about this?"

"About a week, since you brought that document into class." Miss Porter turned the chair, looking toward Erin and smiling, almost maniacally. "I knew it had something to do with my crazy idea from all those years ago."

"Wait, what do you mean by that?" Louise asked, having reentered the room.

Miss Porter adjusted herself in the chair. "I remember that years ago, I came up with a crazy idea: if every object that exists, every atom, is made of the same base materials, then if we could separate and re-fuse those components in large quantities, then we could make anything we wanted from the air around us."

Erin was taken aback. "That would require unbelievable amounts of energy, as well as knowledge that we don't have about the nature of matter."

"That's why it was crazy." A smile crossed her face as she continued. "But I spent a lot of time on it, and even came up with some concepts for using a virtual reality as the construction medium, a way to create the formulas necessary to reconstruct the matter..."

Louise jumped in, also smiling broadly. "And that would require a computer powerful enough to make the millions of necessary calculations on a subatomic level, like a quantum supercomputer!"

"Exactly," the teacher replied, glancing back to the computer. "The instructions seemed like a kind of reversal of what I was thinking about, a way to deconstruct and virtualize physical matter."

Erin put her hand on the side of her head, attempting to hold back the pain of trying to understand all of this at once. "So, how did you know Louise needed my help when you came in here the last time."

At this point, Miss Porter's expression became distant and pained. "I...don't know,"

"You don't know?"

"I have a lot of holes in my memory prior to about three years ago," she said, turning away a bit. "I remember some of my childhood, and my school years, and even a tiny bit about the man I'm sure I loved, but I can't remember anything else clearly."

Erin turned her eyes to the floor, ashamed. "I'm sorry about that."

"Don't be sorry, you didn't know that about me," she said, getting up from the chair and walking over to the girls. "I haven't even properly introduced myself." She extended her hand forward, her slender arm straight and true before Louise. "I'm Renee Porter, English teacher at Orion High School."

Erin reached to take her hand, grabbing it somewhat firmly, but relenting after a second. "I'm Erin Christopher, student at Orion High School."

"Silly girl, I know who you are," she replied. "I was talking mainly to her."

Louise appeared apprehensive, as if shaking the woman's hand would hurt her. But then, she always had trouble introducing herself, fearful of reactions to her full name. "I'm..." she paused, looking to Erin. Erin smiled and nodded, showing her trustfulness of Renee. "I'm Louise Visard. It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss."

As Erin had predicted, Renee didn't bat an eye at Louise's introduction. _I knew she could be trusted to understand_, she thought, remembering the conversation she'd had about Louise with Miss Porter at an earlier time. "You can call me Renee here." The simple response restored the cautious girl's earlier bubbly personality.

Renee turned back to the console. "So, how did you two come across this thing?"

"Well, actually, I followed a stray cat in here..."

-Factory, Lyoko Terminal Room-

Video feeds covered the screen as Jeremie watched intently. Each video was placed next to its duplicate, running at high speed as the images never went out of synch. Odd looked onward over his shoulder, with newscast after newscast running in visual stereo before his eyes. "You should go soon, get some sleep like we agreed," he said, not moving his gaze from the screen.

"I need to figure out what the tower was for, Odd. If I know where it was used, maybe I can get a hint on where the Replika is located," Jeremie replied, his eyes also remaining transfixed. It was a logic that Odd couldn't really argue with, but it was clear that his friend couldn't keep this up.

He placed his hand on Jeremie's shoulder. "I already told you I could handle looking for the difference while I wait for Elizabeth, now go get some sleep."

Perhaps uncharacteristically, Jeremie relented. "Okay, I'll let you handle this for now." He paused the videos, rose from his seat, and shuffled to the elevator. "It's not as if I can't just watch it later," he said as the doors closed, angering Odd just a tiny bit.

Odd returned his gaze to the screen and unpaused the videos. "Why the hell is he so bent on doing everything himself?" he asked himself aloud. The sound of the elevator in the back filled the mostly silent room, prompting Odd to continue when it stopped. "Is he still obsessed with this thing, this burden?" The elevator sound returned as Odd continued to watch the videos. One of the videos finally broke synch with its current timeline copy, prompting Odd to pause them all again. He individually started the original video.

_"On a tragic note, we are receiving word of the death of Dr. Arthur Dalton, who was involved in a single car accident today on Interstate 90 in South Dekota. Dr. Dalton is well-known for his work in the field of quantum computing, and its applications to understanding diseases and antibodies. It is unclear what caused the accident, but police investigating have not ruled out any logical possibilities yet. He is survived by his wife and two sons. Again, Dr. Arthur Dalton, dead at 38."_

Odd reset the video to its starting point, and began watching the second.

_"On a sad note, Dr. Arthur Dalton, famous for his work using quantum computing to research how our bodies fight disease, was found dead this morning in his home in South Dakota. Preliminary reports say that he appears to have died of natural causes, but police are investigating other possibilities due to his young age..."_

Odd didn't need to finish listening to know what had happened this time. He'd seen this before, if only once, yet there was no doubt in his mind. They'd failed to stop the tower in time to prevent the man's death, but a man with expertise in quantum computers seemed like the kind of person XANA would have gone after, aside from Odd and his friends. "Jeremie is definitely going to want to see this."

"Well, if you want to wake him up, he's in the elevator." Odd turned suddenly at the familiar voice.

"Damn, I wanted to be waiting to greet you more formally, Elizabeth." He rose from the seat before the console, and approached her. "Before I start explaining what's been going on here, I want to apologize."

"What for?"

"For explaining what's been going on here, and dragging you into it," Odd replied, glancing away from her as he did. His stomach was doing somersaults, a rare thing considering how much he often ate. "I think it would be best for you to just walk away now, but I know you won't."

Elizabeth spoke boldly to him. "I've been here before, Odd."

"Huh?!"

She continued, moving around the room slowly, taking in the sight. "This is the room from my dreams, I am absolutely sure of it."

Odd breathed a sigh of relief out of reflex, realizing only a moment later that he was already going to tell her everything, so what would it matter if she had remembered being here before. "So, you have some recurring dreams about a very high tech computer room?"

Turning back to Odd, she nodded. "I've been having them for about 3 years now, about once a week that I remember." She stepped up to the console, gliding her fingers softly over the keys and gazing at the screen. "Back when we were students here, you came here to do something really important, and I came to give you something."

Odd mulled over what she had said, but he couldn't pull from his mind exactly what she could be referring to. It was a long time ago, really, and she had actually helped the group numerous times. Suddenly, a comment from earlier in the conversation slapped him across the face. "Wait, Jeremie is still here?"

"Yeah, he's asleep in the elevator. I think he sat down and just passed out." She giggled a bit, her hand at her mouth. Odd smiled somewhat sadly. The door to the elevator closed as the two stood together in the room.

Odd broke the silence after a little while. "I owe you the truth, Elizabeth." He turned to the console and activated the central projection. "This is Lyoko, a virtual world where we once fought for the fate of the world." He looked back at her, expecting a look of accusing disbelief, but was instead greeted with one of deep interest. With that look prompting him, he continued on. "It is capable of directly affecting the real world, and it was run by a hostile being named X.A.N.A." He heard the elevator door again in the background, and the pair looked over to see Ulrich entering the room.

Elizabeth turned back to Odd, apparently not caring that Ulrich had just shown up. "So, this X.A.N.A. guy, he's gone now, right?"

Ulrich calmly jumped into the explanation. "We really don't know. We thought we had beaten him years ago, but the attacks are starting again," he said, taking up a position beside Odd. "You actually helped us deal with the attacks a few times, but you don't remember it."

Odd picked up at that point, without waiting for questions. "The computer can rewind time, so people don't remember the events of the attacks unless the computer scans them." At this point, Elizabeth was quite obviously very confused. "And, we are going to scan you now, so that you can help us out."

She took a step back, apprehensive. "Wait, what do you want me to do?"

"We just want you to be able to remember this, so you can help us cover our tracks if we need it," Odd replied. He neglected to add that he had felt rather guilty about constantly keeping the secret from one of his best friends for years, but he, no, all of the team members had a very good reason for preventing others from finding out about the computer. "You just have to promise not to tell anybody about it."

Elizabeth glanced away, then closed her eyes. "I'm a bit offended that you think I would betray your trust, Odd." She looked back to him, with a gaze that seemed familiar, yet strange at once. He couldn't quite place it yet. "I promise, I will not betray you, Odd."

With that, he finally understood the look she was giving him. It was identical to the look she had given Ulrich earlier that day when he entered her office. With that realization, Odd smiled as sweetly as he was capable, and nodded as he started to speak. "Okay, then."

"You leave the instructions I asked for?" Ulrich asked as he sat at the console.

"Actually, I just had Jeremie do the programming earlier, bottom right window on the screen," Odd replied, motioning toward the elevator. He and Elizabeth entered, careful not to step on Jeremie. The elevator sharply jarred before descending, yet the sleeper remained still. Awaiting them were the scanners, only one of which was open at the moment. Stepping forward, Odd heard the footsteps behind him as Elizabeth followed. Turning back to her, he gestured grandly to the open scanner. "Watch out for that first step, it's a big one."

"That... makes no sense," she replied, stepping the short distance up into the scanner.

"It actually does, because once you agree to this, you can't go back to being ignorant of what we have shown you."

Turning back, she looked out at the room, her eyes slowly sweeping across the shining walls and cords. She giggled a bit, as her eyes stopped at the still open elevator, Jeremie propped against the wall. Her eyes reached Odd, and she smiled. "I want to know the truth. I want to make some kind of difference."

"How romantic," Ulrich said over the intercom, startling the pair.

"I didn't become a teacher for the money, Ulrich," she replied. "Though, it isn't bad money."

Odd laughed aloud. "Just start the scan, Ulrich." He gave Elizabeth a gentle tap on the shoulder, and she backed into the scanner. As it sealed, Odd felt his heart bob about, conflicting between an unburdened feeling and a sense of unease.

A few moments later, the scanner opened, and Elizabeth slid to the ground, appearing exhausted. "What WAS that?" she asked, turning to Odd for an answer.

"That," Odd replied, "was Lyoko. I told Jeremie to set a program to virtualize you for a few seconds, to let you see it."

She turned to him. "Do you always hear a voice when you, uh, virtualize?"

"Voice? Was it Ulrich?"

Shaking her head, she elaborated. "No, it was some older man's voice. It reminded me of my father a bit."

Curiosity drew Odd to lean closer. "What did it say?"

"It said, 'To make up for using you as my messenger, I give you the chance to remember that which never happened.'"

"Well, that makes no sense," Odd replied. He suspected the voice might have been Franz Hopper's, but that wouldn't work, considering the man sacrificed himself to power Jeremie's program and save them all. "Well, we can talk later then, after some rest."

Elizabeth looked back to the elevator. "Are we gonna leave him here, or what exactly?"

Odd sighed, then walked over to the elevator. He poked the sleeping genius in the cheek. "Come on, Jeremie, let's get you home." He caught the sound of Elizabeth's laughter from behind him.

Jeremie slowly opened his eyes. "Why did you wake me up, Odd? This wall is comfortable enough."

"Okay, now you have me wondering about something," he replied, helping his friend to his feet. "How many times did you just sleep here at the factory?"

"Only once in the last week."

"No, I meant... oh, never mind," he said, the elevator picking up Ulrich on the way to the top floor.

Elizabeth smiled and spoke. "You know, this reminds me of the first time we all came here, back when Odd transferred to the school."

Ulrich joined Odd in letting his jaw fall to the ground.

-End Chapter 5-

So, yeah, no virtual world stuff in this part. Review, comment, etc. either on this site or send an e-mail to aurora-dot-chanCE73-at-gmail-dot-com. Next chapter may be a bit late, depending on various factors, but I will continue this story (whether you really care or not).


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